Mugichan: Chooser Of The Slain
by Tastychainsaws
Summary: "With the notes of an ephemeral song, I'm taken away from my home and forced into the role of a hero. New surroundings, the same friends, new romances, a demon that claims to be my sister, and a world that's going to end pretty soon." A yuri filled fantasy adventure inspired by folklore, literature, and metal. The first chapters are a bit rocky, but it gets much better!
1. A Song For A Hero

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 1- A SONG FOR A HERO**

_**Author Note- **Like previous stories of mine, this is a first person tale of Tsumugi. Like the others, it's supposed to be sort of a parody, and not to be taken too seriously. Also, this story also includes Pickles The Cat, Tsumugi's off screen fluffy companion. Anyway, this is basically another one of my "Mugi Stories", so if you liked those, you'll probably like this. If you haven't read them, don't worry, there's not much connection between them and this. As always, there will be some impossible to avoid 'out of characterness' since I'm writing for a character that gets so little inner monologue or development._

**STOP, MUGI TIME**

Like just about any adventure, it all started on day like any other. For some reason, adventures don't ever seem to have some kind of foreshadowing or warning these days. You don't get your calender marked, or any time to properly prepare and say good bye. Heck, even Frodo didn't really have much of a heads up. So in a way, I was like a hobbit, except Japanese, female, with blonde hair, and I played a musical instrument. That musical instrument is actually a big point in this story, because it started everything. My tale began on a warm summer's day as I was studying for exams with the rest of my friends. We were at Ricchan's home, pleasantly chatting, studying, drinking tea, and listening to her brother get mad at video games in the other room. From what I could decipher from his frantic shouts and screams, he was doing quite terribly at _Shadow Of The Colossus_. It was like any other warm summer day spent at her house, and even with my sometimes rabid imagination, I couldn't have guessed what kind of journey I would undertake soon. However, if Ritsu and Mio had decided to admit they loved each other, and then kissed in a place where I could safely observe from a distance; I would have guessed it months before it happened. Anyway, my story began here...

Yui-chan, who was quickly losing her focus towards her English studies, spoke up, "Ricchan, do you have any cake here?"

My favorite hairbanded drummer shook her head, "Nah, we're kind of on a budget right now, so we don't have many sweets."

I was confused, because I thought cake was a basic necessity like plumbing and electricity.

Yui pouted, resting her chin on her textbook, "If I don't have something sweet, I'll die! Mugi-chan, do you have anything?"

Azusa-chan spoke before I could, "Why would she have cake with her?"

THAT was what I forgot before I left, to bring that vanilla crazy cake I had bought yesterday. I even told myself over and over again that morning not to forget it, and now there I was sitting cakeless when a friend was in dire need of cake. Feeling quite sad about that, I replied, "S-Sorry, but I forgot the snacks at home before I left."

"You were going to bring some?" Azusa looked surprised, apparently not remembering how I _always _had snacks ready. It was part of my check list of things before I left my house. Keys, cellphone, mp3 player, stun gun cleverly hidden, and snacks for friends. I subtly pressed my hand against my left pocket, making sure the stun gun was still there. Mother placed much emphasis on me bringing it around, even if it had gone off in my pocket once during class. That, though, was a story for another time.

I nodded at Azusa, and then Mio said something, "Oh, Mugi, are you playing in the competition at that one concert hall next week?"

"Competition? I don't know anything about that." I answered, completely curious now. I happened to like both concert halls and competitions, but not winning because it made me feel bad for the other competitors. Winning made me wish I were bad at more things, which made me wonder if Ritsu wished she won more things.

Once again, Azusa spoke before I could, "What's the competition about?"

"Maybe it's a furry eyebrow contest, then Mugi-chan would definitely win!" Yui complimented me. I was flattered that she thought so highly of my brows.

Mio shook her head, disappointing me because I would have loved to win a eyebrow contest, then explained, "No, there's a competition for piano players next Thursday, and the winner can win up to 80,000 yen or a mystery box!"

"I'd take the mystery box." Yui remarked. Ricchan and I nodded, knowing we'd do the same thing.

"The catch is that it has to be a classical piece." Mio went on, "Which means it has to be something written before the 1800's I guess."

_Cake Consuming Crocodiles! _That meant I couldn't use my piano rendition of _Coheed And Cambria's _song _The Suffering_. All that effort teaching myself to play that for nothing... That wouldn't keep me down though, so I asked, "Do you think I should enter?"

"Definitely." Ricchan answered right away.

"It couldn't hurt." Mio was a bit more modest.

"Mugi-chan would definitely win!" Yui enthusiastically exclaimed.

"You're pretty much the only piano player in this town." Azusa added, although I wasn't sure just how complimentary that was supposed to be. Come to think of it, I hadn't met a single other piano player or keyboardist in high school, and none of the clubs had one. That could have been why I got several invitations for other clubs to play for them, but I wouldn't ever leave the Light Music Club. Those other clubs would actually make me do stuff!

I was touched by their kind words, "Aww, you are all so sweet! If I win, I'll share the reward money with everyone!"

"Then it looks like it's decided." Sawako replied, sitting next to me...although she hadn't been there a few seconds ago. Everyone looked about as surprised as I was feeling, except I was surprised in a happy way, and Ritsu was surprised in a 'every door into my house is locked' way.

"What are you doing in my house!" Ritsu gasped, because she had locked all the doors. This is why I didn't lock the doors in my house, because I didn't have to think about how someone got in when I find them going through my refrigerator in the middle of the night.

Sawako gave her cutesy face and answered, "I was bored and lonely so I decided to see what you all were up to."

"How did you know we were here?" Azusa asked.

She just shrugged, "I guessed, and checked Yui-chan and Mio-chan's house."

"How do you know where I live?" Mio then asked.

Once again Sawako shrugged, not really taking this serious, "Silly Mio-chan, I know how to use the internet."

That was right, you could find where people lived using search engines these days. Now I could finally find where Jun lived since Azusa wouldn't give me directions. While my friends were certainly wondering more about Sawa-chan's presence, I finally got a chance to speak before them and asked, "Hm, what do you think I should play for the show?"

"_Stairway To Heaven!_" Yui instantly answered. Nobody bothered to correct her.

Azusa put a bit more thought into it, "Well...I think you should do something different than the normal classic stuff."

"Fur Elise could be a safe bet." Ricchan suggested. I gritted my teeth at that because I hated Fur Elise and I hated listening to every other kid struggle with it back in music class during primary school. To me it was like the song _Carry On My Wayward Son _in all those music video games, you can only play it so many times before it makes you want to start slamming your head into things. Soft things of course, because music isn't something worth getting a concussion over, despite what metal fans may believe.

"I agree with Azusa-chan." Mio agreed with Azusa-chan, "You should find a song that nobody else will play, one that sounds great and will make you win for sure."

"_Freebird_?" Yui suggested again.

"Mio-chan and Azusa-chan are right." I said, because they were right, "This weekend I'll go into town and find an old music store and look around for some sheet music that looks good. I'm thinking...something French." For some reason that was met all around with frowns, "...fine, okay, German then."

"German composers are some of the best." Sawako replied, "You'd win for sure with that."

And that was how the story of me going into town to find a song to play in a contest began. Our time at Ricchan's home was spent studying a bit more, then followed by watching the second season of _Strike Witches _which made us all feel insecure about our sexualities. It was Wednesday then, and I would search out for a song on Saturday.

Over the next two days, I wondered just if I could play a modern song use pass it off as being classical. Plenty of obscure video games used fantasy sounding music, and I could borrow from them and probably get away with it...but what if they found out I cheated? Realistically, they'd probably ban me from playing piano anywhere ever for the rest of my life! I could only imagine what my friends would think.

_"If only Mugi-chan had just played Fur Elise..." Ricchan sighed, standing in the rain, hands in her pockets, looking into the distance while the saturation was turned way down for dramatic effect._

_ Yui-chan would be crying, "We trusted her!"_

_Mio would shake her head, tears in her eyes, "It all started when she began drinking black coffee. We saw the signs, but we didn't stop her. WHY DIDN'T WE STOP HER!"_

Not wanting to put my friends through an ordeal like that, I decided that it would best to actually win this contest fair and square.

**SATURDAY AND A SONGBOOK**

I took the bus down to that really big mall that always seemed to have everything, and spent an hour looking for a store that would have what I wanted. I checked around that store that sold like 80 guitars, the one where I bought _Crack The Skye _in _Something For Everyone_, and as I walked out of the mall, I wondered if it was worth telling everyone just how the conflict between Mugitsu and I ended.

Before leaving that morning, I looked online for some local places that could have obscure classical music, and found a little place called _Midgard's Threshold. _Now, I don't have a great business sense, but doesn't seem like a good thing to make an antique store. Not because it would scare customers away or anything, but it would draw in the wrong kinds of people. As far as I knew, Midgard was some place in Norse mythology, but some people are going so think of it as the at place from _Final Fantasy 7_. They go in looking for cosplaying stuff, and find this little run down antique store. However, from what the store's website said, they did sell old sheet music. I found that to be oddly convenient that they just happen to list that they sold that.

Even more oddly convenient, the place was only a ten minute walk away from that super mega mall, so I didn't have to buy another bus ticket. I strode happily over there, and the sun was shining, the birds chirping, and the flowers blooming. Midgard's Threshold was pretty easy to find since it looked like it was built in the early 20th century, with its worn wood exterior and yellowed glass windows. It looked extraordinarily out of place because it was part of a strip mall, and it had a Hot Topic on one side of it, and an adult video store on the other.

Proudly, I marched inside and didn't have metaphor for my marching. The inside of the place was dim and musty, like Azusa's basement; not that I would know or anything. Light came through the windows in a way that some how illuminated every single dust mote in the room. The store only seemed to be one room, with all sorts of knick-knacks and junk lining half a dozen shelves. I slowly walked between two shelves, taking in everything I saw. There were a lot of little Scandinavian things, which probably aided in the name of the store. Lots of books in languages I didn't speak, portraits painted by people who died before my parents were born, even a rusted bearded axe. Heck, antique didn't really fit the description, they were more like artifacts. It was strange, after turning 18, I had visited that little adult video store more than once (they sold eroge games and I play them for the STORY), but had never noticed this little place.

A large, but thin, paperback book caught my eye. Dog eared, with yellowed pages, was an old song with an English title I struggled to read due to the elaborate font.

"_Hee-my-enns ov tsa Aaa-eee..._" I struggled to make out it, not even realizing I was speaking aloud.

"_Hymns Of The Aesir_." The voice of an elderly man finished for me, presumably the owner of the swell little dwelling. I looked over to see someone who looked old enough to be my grandfather. He didn't look Japanese, with his pale skin and tired blue eyes, er, _eye_, since one was blocked by an eye path. The man's long white hair fell in messy waves just past his shoulders, but he was dressed like any other person that age would dress. Thankfully, he spoke in fluent Japanese, "That's a fine collections of songs, madam, some of my favorites are there."

I wasn't sure how to react, with him being so forward. Trying to not stutter or anything, I replied, "I'm, uh, looking for songs to play for a concert...and they have to be at least 200 years old."

The man nodded, stroking his long white beard with one of his wrinkled hands, "Yes, a boy around your age came in here earlier today asking for the same thing."

"He didn't buy it though?" I assumed.

"I would not sell it to him." He clarified.

"Oh." I blinked, not quite expecting that, "Is it not for sale?"

Shaking his head, he answered, "It is, and it fits the criteria of what you need, but the boy was rude and disrespectful."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I can't imagine how someone could be like that." I said, then picked up the book, leafing through a few pages to see if it was what I wanted. All the song names were in either Swedish or Norwegian, I couldn't tell, but the dates for some of the songs listed went back to over 600 years ago. This was perfect, I could blow everyone away by playing the piano accompaniment to what were probably old Norse poems. So I asked, "Excuse me sir, how much would I have to pay to obtain such a fine book as this."

Much to my surprise he answered, "For someone such as yourself, it would cost nothing."

"Someone like me?" I really hoped this wasn't leading onto to creepy doujin material. And I had forgotten my stun gun too.

"Yes. I saw that spark of life in your eyes as you looked through the ancient notes and ballads held within there. It was a spark of passion, of someone who wishes to play music for the love of it, not out of greed." He explained, apparently a psyche evaluator.

I wasn't sure how to react, so I excitedly blurted out, "T-Thank you sir! I will cherish it and make sure nothing happens to it!"

"No thanks is needed," He turned to walk back to wherever he came from (presumably the back room of the store), then looked back to say, "You may find some of those to be difficult to play, so make sure to spend plenty of time practicing."

"I will!" I bowed, and left to go do just that.

**A MIDNIGHT SONG**

Apparently something as simple as coming home and just finding a song to play out of a book that had dozens just wasn't something I was allowed to do. Upon returning to my ample dwelling, I found that the patch cable that lead from my keyboard to the speakers I used for it were gone. Not only that, but the AC adapter was missing as well, and I needed that because I didn't all the batteries needed to power my Korg without it. Confused as to how both of those could have just vanished, I consulted my parents with thoughts that perhaps they knew of the objects whereabouts. No such luck, they had not tread into the sanctity of my room that day.

It took me a bit, but then I realized there was only one realistic culprit who could be responsible for this. Ahem, once upon a time I acquired a pet cat during my travels in the vast city of Tokyo. This cat is named Pickles The Cat, and he is a very mischievous creature as most of his species are (Maine Coon is the breed name), and he routinely tormented me in my various tales. Still, I loved him and all his fluffy mayhem. Recently, I bought Pickles The Cat a nice little cat house thing, complete with a little tower thing he could climb. The house part was at the top, and he had taken a liking to pilfering things and hiding them in there. It was pretty surprising just what he got away with. More than once I had found things such as house keys, string, bottle caps, my breakfast, my underwear, and my homework.

So, surprise surprise, I found my furry friend cozily residing in his cat house, right on top of the cords I needed to make my keyboard function as a keyboard. While it certainly would have made for a great blunt weapon, dealing at least 1d10 damage. I smiled at Pickles The Cat and went to take those cords back, because Mugi's needed them more than cats did. My tender hand was met with a playful swat from his poofy paw, with claws not quite fully out.

"Pickles The Cat, I need to get these to play my keyboard. You don't need them, you are a cat, you do not even play an instrument." I reminded him, and went to try again. Once again, I was met with a playful swat, instead this time there were claws. Those claws raked against the back of my hand hard enough to draw blood. I quickly retracted said hand and cradled it against my bosom, "Owie! That hurt! Bad kitty!"  
>He rolled on his back and looked at me with eyes that said, <em>Problem Mugi?<em>

"Yes there is a problem. Clawing people is mean!" I told his eyes.

From downstairs, I heard mother call up, "Tsumugi dear, are you talking to yourself again?"

"No mother! Just Pickles The Cat!" I replied back.

There was a pause, "Okay, just making sure you're still sane, or at least sober."

Jeez, mothers, right? You raid the liquor cabinet once in junior high on a dare then all of a sudden your parents brand you as an alcoholic. It was all because of my old friend Miyuki back then, she'd always get me into trouble. That wasn't relevant, and I had more important matters to attend to. Getting those dumb cords back from a cat that smiled their kitty grin every time they saw my blood. Within six hours of meeting him, he had attacked my eyebrows, and rallied other cats to attack Ricchan. I was beginning to think he didn't really like me all that much, or anyone else for that matter.

Never one to be defeated by a small furry feline, I went to go get the wiffle bat and respond with appropriate force. After about an hour and half of intense combat with my pet, I finally got the AC adapter back, but let him take the patch cable for his own sinister means. It had been a brutal battle, leaving with me many claw marks, bruises, and at least one cracked rib. Pickles The Cat had taken at least four gentle bops on the head with my wiffle bat, but I think in the end the fight was his.

I set up my Korg Triton in its rightful place in my room, near the window. Tonight, the moon was shining bright in the sky, with a million stars competing against it for glory. Pickles The Cat and I had formed a shaky peace, and I allowed him to sleep on my bed nearby because he was just so darn cuddly.

Carefully, and delicately (which I guess mean the same thing), I placed the songbook against the back of my keyboard on the little stand for it. I leafed through it page by page, trying to find something that suited me. Many of the titles had those squiggly accent lines that I didn't know, so I didn't know how to pronounce any of them. All but one, whose name I made out as being something like, _Through Bifrost_. I happened to like both _bi _and _frost_, especially the former, so that seemed like the perfect song to attempt to learn. I looked at the time signature and saw it as being 5/7th, which was my least favorite time signature. Yui-chan could sweep pick in 5/7th time, which warranted my envy. The song itself was a little tricky, with lots of staccatos, tempo changes, seemingly random accents, and a part that looked plagiarized from the song _Destroy The Opposition _by _Dying Fetus_. It made me wonder how a 14th century composer could copy something written in the last 15 years. I didn't put it past those clever Scandinavians though.

The song started off with a G sharp in both the treble and bass cleft. After playing with _Houkago Tea Time _for so long, I forgot that you sometimes had to use both hands for the piano. Memories of my Mugi-rage towards Fur Elise surfaced, and I had to take a few deep breaths before continuing.

Something about the moonlight peering through my open window, and the cold breeze, accompanied the haunting melody of _Through Bifrost_ perfectly. The tune was frighteningly beautiful, and it amazed me that I was capable of playing such a lovely thing. I closed my eyes as I replayed what served as the chorus, and pictured snowy mountains and ancient forests untouched by man. The music reminded me a bit of _Moonlight Sonata _or _We Three Kings_, and probably would have gone great with a tambourine working like a metronome.

Even Pickles The Cat looked up from meticulously grooming himself to take in the chilling sound of this piece I was playing. With this, I was sure to put the audience and whoever was judging into tears and use all the money to make my friends happy. The song was only two minutes long, and I wasn't sure how long I was supposed to go on for. I'd have to ask Mio-chan about it, since she would probably be able to point me in the right direction for the details.

My second wind after my battle with Pickles The Cat had pretty much disappeared completely after playing that, and I found I could hardly keep my eyes open. While I wanted to just throw myself on my bed, jeans and all, I knew that wasn't proper at all. Despite all of a sudden being so tired that I could hardly stand, I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, donned my gray and white pajamas (because colors representing a winter sky were fashionable in the summer), then fell asleep on my bed without even taking off my bathrobe.

As I fell into the world of dreams, that haunting melody played in my head like a ethereal lullaby.

And thus, my journey began.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Stupid Obligatory Author Note Thing- **Well, I hoped everyone mildly enjoyed the tedium of this pilot chapter. It, like, foreshadows things and stuff so it's kind of important. I won't go into anything regarding the story though, since I want it to be a TOTAL surprise. For once I think I found the right balance of references and off topic tangents, but as the author it's hard to say. Anyway, read the next chapter to find out how Mugi's "Journey" begins._

Oh yeah, I like reviews too. They're pretty and work great at motivating me to write this faster._  
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_A Thank you to Starasp for beta-reading. If you're into Lucky Star, you should read his sci-fi story, it's pretty freakin' good.  
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	2. Taking Up The Sword

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 2**

**TAKING UP THE SWORD**

I had a dream that I was very, very cold. In that dream, I was laying on something cold, like a blanket made of cold, and cold wind was blowing on me. Not only that, drops of cold were falling on me, which made me wonder if someone was dumping more cold on me because I wasn't cold enough. I was about as cold as cold got, with the sole exception of one patch of warm just below my breasts. In this dream, I tried to move away from my prison of cold, but was frozen in place it felt like.

Something pressed against my face, and I fell into the state that existed between sleep and being awake. Except everything was still really cold. It felt something sharp poke my face, followed by a familiar 'Meow'. That warm was no longer on my body, but I felt something pressing down on my chest. My eyes fluttered open and I saw the face of Pickles The Cat looking down on me. Behind him was a background of stark white, with even more white falling down from it. He hopped down on to my lap as I sat up and sleepily examined my surroundings.

"Well..." I said to myself as I looked around. Apparently someone had found it funny to remove me from my nice warm bed and dump me into what looked to be Russia in the winter. I was sitting in several inches of snow, with more beneath me, it was snowing currently, and in the distance I could see mountains so high that their tops were obscured by clouds. Around me, snow covered pines were sporadically placed, and they looked like they hadn't seen the sun in a long time. I looked down at Pickles The Cat, who had snow dotting the black patches in black and white fur, and muttered, "This is no good, is it?"

"Meow." He agreed.

Something like this had happened to me once before, when my friend Miyuki had moved me from my bed to the opening of a sewer about four miles away while I slept. I stopped being her friend, and Mother got a restraining order, which really did a number on poor Yuki-chan since that meant that her going to the candy store right by my old home violated it if I were at home. Maybe this was some kind of elaborate revenge scheme? "What do you think, Kitty?"

"Meow."

"You're right." I nodded, then struggled to stand up while holding him in my arms. Luckily I still had my bathrobe and slippers, which could have been the reason why I hadn't frozen to death since the mucus under my nose was beginning to freeze over. I sheltered Pickles The Cat under the folds of my robe the best I could, and shivered rabidly. The more I stood there, the colder it seemed to get, but I didn't know where to go, "W-Where do y-you th-thing we should g-g-g-g-o?"

"Meow." Pickles The Cat suggested.

"N-no, mountains would only be colder." I told him, since it was basic knowledge that higher air was colder air.

"Meow." He argued, and had a point.

"T-The problem with t-that is that y-you're assuming th-that we could f-find a cave o-or shelter to hide in f-from the el-elements. N-Not to mention I don't know h-how to build a f-fire. Plus we should work on finding out how we got here."

"Meow." He added. He was right, he was always right, and now I wanted to cry. Waking up in a frozen wasteland didn't really leave you with many options, other than 'attempt to not die'. I felt like I was in the middle of a _Wintersun _song now, with no way out. Or maybe this was all some sort of really cold dream, a very cold and realistic dream. Why was it that when I dreamed about being lost in some distant, cold place, it was frighteningly real...but when I dreamed about having some 'fuwa fuwa time' with Azusa, it would be like watching a movie from my point of view? The only feeling I got from those dreams came from me grinding against Pickles The Cat in my sleep...why was I thinking about this now?

From out of the trees, someone on horseback slowly rode towards me. I was terrified, afraid that it was some horrible raider or barbarian coming to enslave or kill me. With how things had gone since I'd woken up, that would have fit right in. This person rode up towards me, their horse was large gray and brown mare with an impressively poofy mane. I looked up at them, shivering from cold and justified fear. The rider was obscured by a fur lined cloak that warranted my envy because I was so cold. On their back was a bow with a quiver of arrows, with an impressive array of daggers just in my view from under their cloak. Their gloved hands pushed back the hood of that cloak, and my mind was blown.

"R-Ricchan!" I gasped, taking a step back.

"Meow!" Pickles The Cat was just as surprised as me.

"Ricchan?" Ricchan appeared to have forgotten her own nickname. She eyed me curiously, "I don't know who you are, but you don't really seemed dressed from the weather here...you wouldn't happen to be named Geror, would you?"

I shook my head at this Ricchan-lookalike, "No, I'm Tsumugi. You can call me Mugi, or Mugi-chan though, since every else does. My real name is pretty much moot at this point. I have to say, you look a lot like one of my friends."

She even had a yellow headband, "Oh, well, I really don't feel like riding anymore, and I'm supposed to find a frost jotunn named Geror all the way out here."

"I didn't even understand half of that." I admitted, "I'd imagine that having to ride all the way out here n the cold wouldn't be very nice though. How come you have to do this, Ricch-, I mean, uhh, I don't know your name, sorry."

"Skirnir, but everyone calls me Ritsu."

I was even more surprised, "Wow! I have a friend named Ritsu too! We call her Ricchan though, and she looks just like you!"

"Really?" Her eyes widened, "Why do you call her Ricchan though?"

I realized then that explaining honorifics to someone not familiar with them could be difficult, so I made something else, "Because...because...uh...it means 'She Who Hits The Drums Really Hard'!"

Ritsu smiled then, "Ha, that means she's a really strong warrior right?"

"S-Sure?"

"Then feel free to call me Ricchan all you want!" She flexed her arms, which were much weaker than mine, proudly, then offered me a hand, "Here, want a ride back? You don't look like you belong here."

I sighed in relief, and accepted her hand, climbing up behind her on the horse, "Truthfully, I don't know how I got here. I just woke up here."

"Do you remember what you were doing before you fell asleep?" She asked after spurring the horse, and began riding back the other way. I held my arms around her tight, and thankfully she didn't mind as I clung onto her for warmth.

"I do." I answered, "I was playing a song on my piano, fell asleep, and woke up here."

"Piano, is that a musical instrument?"

I looked down at my furry companion, nuzzled in my robe, and whispered. "We're not in Japan anymore, Pickles The Cat." Then spoke up louder, "Yeah, they're quite popular where I come from."

"Where do you come from?" Ricchan asked.

"_Nihon_." I answered, since that was Japanese for Japanese and that's how she would have heard it.

Apparently, that wasn't in her vocabulary though, "Did you say _Niflheim_? How did you end up in _Jotunheimr _then?"

"I told you, I just fell asleep and woke up here with my cat." I reminded her.

"Meow." Pickles The Cat said.

Ritsu paused for a moment, thinking, "Maybe your cat brought you here."

"What?"

"They goddess Freyja has a chariot pulled by cats, maybe your cat is a cat god!" Ritsu suggested. It made about as much sense as anything else.

"Meow." Pickles The Cat liked that idea.

"Maybe." I replied, "I don't really know, I just want to go home."

We rode for a moment, the both of us thinking as the trees around us grew into a full blown forest. I was beyond confused, and now into something that was more than confused, but not quite insane. Waking up in this place was one thing, but finding a doppelganger of a friend was enough to make by brain hurt. Luckily, this wasn't _Feeding A Dream _so she wasn't going to try and kill me or say creepy things...or so I hoped. After twenty minutes of me shivering I asked, "Is where we're going warm? Or at least safe?"

"We haven't seen the summer in three years now, but it's warmer than the land of frost jotunn. Which reminds me, I need to give Freyr his sword back." She answered, then said something about swords and Freyr's.

I mournfully sighed at that, "Are there at least warm blankets and a cozy fire?"

"Definitely!" Ritsu replied, much to my relief, "It's a good thing I found you out here though, if the cold didn't get you, the jotunn would have."

"J-Jotunn?" That word sounded scary.  
>"<em>Giant<em>." She clarified, and I shuttered.

"W-Why were you out here with giant that...get...people?" I asked, fearing my friends safety.

Ritsu laughed, "I sent here to woo the fair giantess Geror for Freyr, but it's hard for a girl to woo other girls. He gave me his sword in return, but I don't really want it, so I was hoping to give it to Geror a romantic gift or something."

"Girls can totally woo girls!" I shouted, because this was my field of expertise here, "I mean, yeah, a sword isn't all that romantic, but it's the thought that counts. This Freyr guy sounds like he has a lot to learn about ladies though, because sending one as a matchmaker for him is the complete wrong way to go about it!"

"Wow, Tsumugi, you sure are passionate about this." Ritsu remarked.

"Of course I am!" I proudly replied, "I'm pretty much wrote the book on ladies wooing ladies in my homeland."

Ricchan stopped the horse, and turned around to face me, smiling widely, "Wait, you know how to make girls notice you!"

Her enthusiasm startled me, but I liked where this was going. I certainly hoped my morning breath wasn't too bad, or too cold either. I replied a little shakily, "Well, er, not _me _in particular...but that's what I'm here for, to help others!"

Ritsu took my hands in hers, "Then do you think you could help get a girl I like to notice me?"

Smiling uncontrollably, I shook her hands up and down, cheering, "Yes! Yes! Completely yes! In fact, I'll put that in front of trying to get back to where I belong!"

"Meow." Pickles The Cat rolled his eyes.

"Shut up! This is my first chance in 18 years to do something like this!" I shouted back at him, bopping him on his smug little head.

Ritsu looked a bit confused, "You...can understand what your companion says?"

"Any proper lady of a house can speak cat." I proudly replied, "...but anyway, tell me about this woman you want to woo, and I'll do my best to help!"

Her eyes shined like sparkly diamond, and she dreamily sighed. To me, she looked like she was in love, and I knew all about this sort of thing. In a whispy voice, she told me, "Her name is Mio, and she is the fairest maiden in all of Midgard. For her black hair is like the feathers of the most beautiful raven, her skin like the purest snow, and her voice sang like the prettiest songbird. She is my best friend, and my heart aches for her...but she doesn't know my feelings."

That brought a tear to my eye, "That was beautiful, and I'm already jealous...Wait! I know a Mio where I come from, and she's all of those things!"

Ricchan gasped, "This must be fate then! Why else would I meet such a fair lady such as yourself who came from a different land that seems to be a mirror to this one? Perhaps you were sent to help us!"

I nodded, "I'll definitely help you with Mio. True love only happens every now and then, so I'm not going to squander the chance to help it bloom!"

"Maybe you can help with our other problems too!"

"Like what?" I asked.

Ritsu looked the other way, "We have not seen a summer in three years time. Brothers have turned against each other in deceit...blood spills down the streets as men wage war against each other. The dead raise from their graves to do battle against us, and gas prices only keep getting higher."

"Those are all very awful things..." I muttered, not really sure what to say here, "...but let's start small. Like helping you get with who you truly belong with."

She nodded and looked me in the eye, just before I began to stare at her lips. I never realized she had such pretty lips. Mio was one lucky girl, that was for sure. Ignoring my lip staring, she said, "It's time to get going though, let's see if we can't get back for dinner."

"I sure love food." I agreed.

"Meow." Pickles The Cat said, but I disagreed.

The frozen forests here gave way to a more rocky environment, as we passed into what looked to be mountains. From what I could see, it looked like we were going to take a mountain pass to wherever Ricchan and the others lived. I wondered if I would meet the others here as well, or even a different version of myself. The thought of that sent shivers down my spine, and had my toes curling in my bunny slippers. It went without saying that my mind began to wander.

_"Oh Mugi-chan, you look lovely today." Mugi said to me, looking as beautiful as ever._

_ "Why thank you, Mugi-chan." I said with a bow, the edge of my bathrobe slipping, exposing one of my breasts ever so briefly, "Oh my! How terribly indecent of me!"_

_ Mugi-chan blushed, "N-No, it's quite alright."_

_ I quickly covered myself, "I'm sorry, I knew you'd be here and I didn't get ready for our night out sooner. Let me change into something befitting a night on the town with my best friend._

_ "Wait!" Mugi-chan cried out as a turned around, "I-I like s-seeing you...like this...Please don't hate me!"_

_ I turned back around, "You like seeing me..." then let my bathrobe fall to my feet, exposing me completely, "...like this?"_

Then we started to pass a bunch of butchered up dead bodies on the pass. They were grown men in steel chain and plate armor, with weapons laying about amongst them. We were passing through some sort of battleground here, and these guys had lost pretty badly. Blood was splattered all over the rocks and snow, with limbs laying about. Figured that the scene of a massacre would interrupt my fantasies...Wait...this was really scary!

"R-Ricchan, w-what is all of this!" I held onto her tighter as I got a better look at these men. Bearded guys, with horned helmets, apparently hacked to pieces by a stronger force.

"Oh, the giants attacks humans going to and from Bifrost." She replied like it was nothing. Also, I remembered _Bifrost _from somewhere too...

I asked what was probably the most obvious question, "Um, not that I doubt your or anything...but...are we going to safe?"

"No, we'll probably be killed." She answered nonchalantly, "...Or raped...or forced into slavery...or some unholy combination of the three."

Looking back, I don't want to say I broke down and cried like a baby upon hearing that...but,

"_WAAHHHH! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"_

Ricchan flinched, "You don't have to yell in my ear! Look on the bright side, if we die, we get to go to Valhalla to fight each other for eternity while drinking goat beer!"

"_WAAHHHH! I DON'T WANT TO DRINK GOAT BEER!"_

"Okay, one more scream and I'm kicking you off the horse." Ritsu said while rubbing her ear.

I sniffled, "B-b-but, I like living...and there's so many things I never got to do in life..." Like stand in front of an audience, playing keyboard, then say, _"Here's our newest song! My Love Is A Stapler!_" And it would be funny because it wasn't new at all!

Ritsu slowed the horse down just a bit, "Hm, maybe we could try to not die?"

"I like that idea a lot!" I shouted again, "In fact, let's start right now by _not _riding down the path of dead people."

Near us, a chunk of icy rock hit the ground hard enough to make the horse vibrate beneath me. Mr. Horse neighed quite loudly, rearing up, and sending me and Ricchan falling off as he went off to do go traitorous horse things, presumably. Pickles The Cat shrieked as Ricchan landed on top of me, sandwiching him against me.

"Oof!" I oof'd, and felt kitty claws dig into my chest. I pushed Ricchan off of me, watched another boulder collide against the ground near by. Up on the slopes were massive people standing some twenty feet high with pale blue skin and cool viking armor; complete with horned helms. On their backs were massive battleaxes, and they were contently shouting at us while throwing rocks and stuff. This was probably the most unpleasant thing to happen in my life thus far.

For a brief moment, I was frozen in fear as Ricchan dragged me from the path. It took a moment, but I was functional again, and quickly took cover behind a boulder with her.

"What do we do!" I asked, holding Pickles The Cat close to me.

Ritsu thought for moment, then answered happily, "I don't know! But this is exciting isn't it!"

"I don't want to be excited, I want to be safe!" I squeaked, "Do we have any ranged weapons like, say, a gun?"

"Gun?"

"Grr! Happy Hats! Why didn't you tell me this world was a medieval fantasy setting!" I Mugi-growled, which I had been told was quite adorable, then regained my composure, "Okay...okay...it's not like either of us could use a gun...Any bows and arrows?"

"Those are for pansies!" Ritsu boldly declared. While I admired her preference to face an enemy dead on, it kind of worked against us here.

"Do we have anything to use against them from faraway? Since, you know, they have giant axes! I can only throw Pickles The Cat so far!" I had to remind her.

"Meow." Pickles The Cat growled.

"You know that out of the two of us, you stand a better chance of beating them!" I replied.

Ricchan stood up, "Wait here, let me go and get something that fell off Ton-chan when she bucked us off!"

As she ran out of cover to go get whatever it was, I giggled at Ton-chan being a horse here. Within seconds, she returned with what looked to be a leather wrapped pole or something. It was nearly my height, and extremely narrow. She set it down between us, and I asked, "What's that? Something to hit them from far away?"

She excitedly unwrapped it, revealing a beautifully jeweled two-handed sword, with a shining white blade. It was marveling, but not quite useful against something that could just step on me. Still quite excited, she told me, "This is the very sword Freyr uses, and that he gave to me to woo that one giantess. I'll have to give it back to him later, but right now it could come in handy. It just happens to be made to fight giants, and fights on its own without anyone wielding it!"

"Wow! That's amazing! Why did you use it, like, thirty seconds ago when we saw all the dead bodies!" I was losing my patience, which was rare for me. I equated it with the stress of people trying to kill me. Despite the whole thing of me being in a strange new world, I didn't think it had been all that bad. My fantasies between Mio-chan and Ricchan were closer to reality here, and all in all, I was kind of looking forward to seeing what kind of cool new things there were here. Then some mean old giants come along and try to kill me. This was just like that time I went to Disneyland Resort in Tokyo. Boy hat _that _been fun...

"Because..." She looked almost guilty, or ashamed, or disgustipated, I don't know, "...Freyr said only a wise person could use it, and I'm not very wise."

"Hm, well you _did _think that walking along until you were killed like those other people was a good idea." I pointed out.

"I know, I know...but you seem really wise! Like, you decided that dying was a bad thing, and had all sorts of wisdom towards romance!" She then shoved the sword into my hands. Holding it by the handle, the weight made me fall into the slow behind me.

"So it operates on common sense?" I grunted as I tried to sit up again. The snow was beginning to ruin my pajamas, and my mood, "Good thing I have a little bit of that -not a lot- but hopefully enough."

"Give it a try then."

I held up the sword best I could, which was really hard since it was so big. My keyboard weighed a lot, and I did Mugi-ups all the time (think pushups, but with more white, adorable, triangle shaped eyes), so I was quite in shape. I cleared my throat and asked, "Umm, Sword-chan, my name is Mugi-chan and I'm pleased to meet you. Uh, there are some frost jellies-"

"Giants." Ritsu corrected me.

"Right! Frost giants, over there trying to kill us. I don't really like dying, and I don't think you like laying here buried under snow for eternity. A sword like you deserves to shine!"

"Meow." Pickles The Cat deadpanned. Something was happening though, the sword began vibrating in my hand, and turning warm. It reminded me of when I wrapped a spoon in duct tape, left in the freezer over night, and then heated it up with a lighter. Oh what a trip to the hospital that had been. Afraid that something like that would happen again, I quickly let go of the sword, and much to everyone's... it remained floating it midair.

"You did it Mugi-chan!" Ricchan cheered.

"Meow." Even Pickles The Cat was impressed.

Smiling, I said to Sword-chan, "Well, now that we've started off on the right foot...would you so kindly go and help us with those pesky giants?"

The blade bowed ever so slightly and flew off like a torpedo over the boulder towards our oppressors. It was a silent for a few seconds, with the giant's shouts and rock throwing momentarily ceasing. I heard one of them call something out in their language, which probably translated into, _"Hey, is that a sword!_" Because it was followed by giants screaming, the sounds of steel on steel, and the chorus of the song _Burnt Offerings _by _Iced Earth_. I didn't particularly like violence, or songs about sacrificing people, but this seemed like a comfortable change of pace from getting rocks thrown at me.

"Think Sword-chan is winning?" I asked Ricchan. A severed giant arm flew over the boulder and landed near us, splattering blood against us. All I could do was blink and go, "_Eep_!"

"Meow." Pickles The Cat smiled.

Ritsu looked at the severed limb in front of us, and stroked her chin, thinking, "Hmm... maybe, hard to tell..." Another arm fell near us, splattering us with even more blood, "...No, wait! Yeah, definitely winning!"

As the outro of that song finished, Sword-chan returned, covered in blood. I smiled, shaking my head, "You're covered in blood, this won't do at all! Ah well, did you get them all?"

Sword-chan wavered just a little bit, which I think was a nod.

"That's good!" I cheered, throwing an arm around Ricchan's shoulder, "We're not dead! Now let's get home and get a bath, I hate being covered in blood!"

Ricchan looked confused, "Really? I thought being soaked in blood was a turn on."

Now I was confused, "Er, not really...at all...It's kind of scary, and just a little disgusting."

"...So that's why Mio-chan never came near me after those raids..." Ritsu muttered to herself, "Wow, Mugi-chan, you really are wise! It's a good thing I met you, I'm sure you'd be able to make Mio notice my feelings for her!"

"I'll do my best!" I smiled.

Ton-chan the horse returned to us, and we mounted again. Sword-chan pressed herself (she came off to me as a girl sword) against my back, resting contently as we rode on. We passed the bodies of the giants who now looked like sushi after what Sword-chan did to them. I felt a little bad though, because I knew I would have tried to kill me on sight too if I saw myself riding through with Ricchan on the back of a noble stallion. I will be the first to admit that I am a jealous person at times. A little ways after traveling through the mountain, Ritsu excitedly spoke up, "If you're new here, does that mean you've never rode down Bifrost?"

_Where had I heard that name before?_

"Nope, is it something cool?" I asked, since cool things were cool.

Out of nowhere, the mountains around us completely gave way, and now we were riding on a giant rainbow, at least hundred meters wide. Ton-chan's hooves didn't make any noise against it, and I found myself screaming and holding onto Ritsu as she laughed wildly. This wasn't funny! This wasn't funny at all! This rainbow bridge had to be miles off the ground from what I could see. Below, through the shining colors we rode across, I could see mountainous landscapes marked with many rivers, fields, and forests, all of which were covered in snow.

What blew my already addled mind, was how we passed a massive ash tree that was even higher than the rainbow. We were in between day and night here, as with the sun shining on my left, and the moon standing proud in the sky to my right. In that massive ash tree, stars twinkled amidst the branches and leaves. I was at a complete loss for words at the beauty of it all, and I completely understood where Ronnie James Dio got inspiration for his songs now.

I was laughing with Ricchan too, even though Pickles The Cat had his claws firmly imbedded in my tender chest. At this point, you could play connect the dots with the scars he left there with all the scratches. It did it once, and the connected claw marks spelled out the kanji for his name. I was impressed. Ricchan had her head facing the clouds to our left as I stared dreamily at the tree to our right, wishing everyone back home could see this. The shock of waking up in another world (and that whole thing with the giants) hadn't really set in yet, because I was thoroughly enjoying myself and looking forward to what came next.

Then I could have swore that the tree shook just a little bit. I guess Ricchan didn't react, even if it was sort of in her peripheral vision, so I assumed this was a normal thing around here. My eyes alternated between that great tree, and the rainbow beneath us, wondering how long we'd be here...

And then all of a sudden we were riding somewhere completely different. Gone was the dazzling rainbow bridge and beautiful tree, and now we were galloping through a iced over field of grass and rock. Behind us were towering mountains, like those that I woke up near, but I could actually see the sky beyond the clouds. It was twilight, with sun lowering beyond the horizon in the distance, reflecting off the snow like a wave of shinyness.

"Are we almost there?" I asked. I didn't go horseback riding very much, and we'd been riding for hours. The novelty of having something vibrating up and down in between your thighs quickly vanished when you had to put up with it for a long time. All things in moderation they said, and I definitely agreed here. My fanny was becoming really sore from riding for so long, and I'm sure my hymen had probably broken sometime during the trip. All in all, this served as a stark reminder of why everything in the doujin _Black Time _was so unrealistic.

"Just around the bend." Ritsu replied, and I almost wanted to sing a line from that song, but I had a habit of butchering English lyrics. "So, what'd you think of Bifrost?"

"That beautiful rainbow bridge of happiness next to that giant shiny tree of wonder?"

"Yep, and that was the world tree Yggdrasil, pretty ain't it?"

Even though she was facing the other way, I shook my head up and down really fast, "It was the most coolest thing I'd ever seen! So cool that I'm willing to forsake basic grammatical rules!"

"That doesn't really work since we're speaking Japanese, but I'm glad you liked it." Ricchan replied, spurring Ton-chan on just a little faster, "I'm a messenger for the gods, second only to Hermond, so I make that trip all the time. In fact, I was asleep for most of it just then!"

"Sounds like an exhausting job." I remarked, and in the distance I could see the smoke of chimneys rising, and the smell of something cooking met my nose. My mouth watered, and I realized that the only thing I had to eat that day was snow and bits of frost giant blood that flew into my mouth. The latter tasted like soy sauce.

Within a few minutes, we passed a wooden palisade into a nice little wooden village in the mountains here. The houses were all built into the ground just a little bit, constructed from wood and stone, with straw roofs. The streets weren't paved, and all muddy and gross, completely covered in footprints from people and animals alike. There were people bustling about, dressed in linen clothes with earth tones as the apparent theme, with some pretty girls in colorful dresses mixed in. Every now and then I would see a man or woman with full battle dress, chainmail, battleaxe, horned helmet, long bow, and maybe a dead body over their shoulder. All in all, this little town could use a ladies touch.

"Oh, Ricchan, what's the name of this town?" I asked her.

"_Sakuragyfli._" She replied, and for some reason that name didn't surprise me at all. Ton-chan was lead to a rickety covered stable, and we dismounted, with Sword-chan still on my back.

I shivered at the cold here, since it wasn't much better, "Brr, what month is it in this world? Because it was July where I'm from."

"It's July here too." Ricchan replied, much to my disdain, "We haven't seen the end of winter for two and a half years, remember?"

"Right..." I pouted, missing the sunny sun already.

I followed her around the corner of the building the stable was against, so we were standing in front of it. Judging by the little engraving of a flagon of mead above the wide doors, this was a tavern of sorts. She lead me by the hand, "Mio-chan and I work here, and get free room and board. Welcome to _Moose Consensual Debauchery_!"

That's what the sign on the door even said. That was what someone chose to name this establishment. It was like someone took a phrase that could have made sense and would have been funny otherwise, then changed a word around so it was now just utter nonsense. There was nothing funny about _Moose Consensual Debauchery_! She lead me inside, into a large open common room for the inn, and I instantly felt a lot better. The room was pretty dark, lit by only one large fire place, and a few lanterns here and there, and as we stepped down from the front door, I was overcome by the warm air and the smell of good foods. There was maybe two dozen people, ranging from girls my age, to men and women wearing their battle dress for some reason. A girl who looked surprisingly like Yui's sister, Ui, was working the bar, and a girl younger than me with pretty white hair was playing a piano in the far corner. The tune was quite lovely -not as good as anything I could play- but still quite lovely.

Except from what I could tell, this world was akin to about Scandinavia before the 11th century. The piano wasn't invented until _much_ later.

"Let's go get something to eat then!" Ritsu lead me to the bar, and offered me a seat next to her, "Ui-chan, what's for _náttmál?"_

This world's Ui smiled at us, "Oh, the usual for you and your very pretty friend."

I didn't know what the usual was, but I sure liked compliments. Ricchan introduced us, "Mugi, this is Ui, sister of the great warlord Yui The Slaughter Queen. Ui, this Lady Mugi-chan, a fair maiden who I found wandering the frozen wastes of Jotunheimr. She saved us from the giants with her wisdom!"

__Wait, Slaughter Queen!__

"You saved Ricchan!" Ui happily gasped, taking my hand and shaking it up and down, "You're are most definitely welcome here from now on! Such a brave warrior like yourself deserves only the best, how does some lutefisk sound?"

"Sounds foreign." I replied, too hungry object to anything.

Apparently lutefisk was like the pickled herring we sometimes ate around holidays back home, and it was quite good after a day of eating nothing but snow and one of Ritsu's hairs in Bifrost. As we ate, Ricchan retold the story to everyone of how I single handedly faced off against several angry giants, and a wizard or two. I had to tell them that Sword-chan did most of the work, but that didn't stop the people in the tavern for thanking me. They were curious about me though, where I came from, and what I was doing there, and it was Ui who asked the most basic questions, "So, Mugi, what kind of things do you for fun in your homeland?"

Fun things were fun, so I replied, "I mostly play the piano and attempt to play matchmaker for my friends...which they rarely notice."

"So noble..." Ui swooned, her eyes shining like stars.

Ritsu looked over at the girl playing piano, "Why don't you play something for us?"

"Well...I suppose I could..." I had to refrain from giggling madly and excitedly cheering YES. I just loved pianos.

"Good, then let's go!" Ricchan grabbed me by the arm and excitedly dragged me over there, and I wondered if anyone was going to let me wear something other than my pajamas at some point. I didn't like moving quickly around like this, because Pickles The Cat was still in my shirt. As 'Ricchan' meant 'She Who Hits The Drums Hard', during dinner, Ritsu had decided that 'Mugi-chan' meant 'She Who Harbors Fluffy Felines Between Her Breasts'. I wasn't complaining, but there were many other things I would prefer between my breasts. Anyway, Ritsu tapped the white haired girl on her shoulder, stopping her song, "Hey, Litvyak, beat it, it's Mugi's turn!"

"...Okay..." The little girl's voice was above a whisper, and I kind of felt bad for her. She was a fellow peni-, er, pianist, and we were kindred spirits in a way. If Ricchan told me to beat it, then I guess I would be upset, and I was a very emphatic person.

"Hey Ri-" I went to say before another white haired girl pulled me around by the shoulder. She was my height, with longer white hair, and deep purple eyes. I realized that Litvyak was a Russian name, which made this setting ever more confusing for me.

"Listen newcomer..." She said through gritted white teeth, one hand on my shoulder, "...I don't care who you are, but Sanya is the piano player around here, so you can just sit down and enjoy her music like everyone else." I then realized she was holding a dagger in her other hand, "...Oh, I see you eying this..." She held the dagger up towards my neck, "...Listen sister, I've gut people for lesser things before. So I suggest you leave, because I'm sure you don't want to lose blood over a piano."

"Eep!" I eep'd, slowly inching away.

Ritsu, thankfully, was treading lightly here, "Hey, hey, hey, we don't want any trouble Juutilainen, just put the weapon away!"

Litvyak stood up, and I felt bad for her, being in the middle of this. I also realized that Juutilainen was a Finnish name, which felt less out of place than the Russian one. The little pianist spoke in a soft, beautiful voice, "Please, no violence, Mugi can play."

The other girl put her knife away and eyed her friend curiously, "You sure Sanya?"

She nodded, "Yes, it has been years since I've seen another pianist, I would like to hear her perform."

"If you say so..." Finnish girl backed down, stepping way from me.

"Go Mugi!" Ricchan encouraged.

The tavern went silent as I sat down, all eyes on me. I was stirring in my panties as I tried to think of just what to play for this eager audience. That song I played last night came to mind, so did Fur Elise, but I really didn't think these people needed more troubles to add to their own. I didn't feel like performing some of my HTT stuff, and playing a cover of a Dragonforce or Children of Bodom song felt just out of place. I couldn't remember the name of that song I played before falling asleep last night, but it felt somehow appropriate.

My fingers began their work, pressing down on the polished white and black keys, moving as gracefully as a spider going through its web. The notes echoed off the stone and wood walls, creating a chillingly haunting melody that left many stunned eyes staring upon me. That little white haired pianist had a slight smile on her face, which warmed my heart, while her guardian friend looked frankly jealous. The beauty of the song only lasted two minutes, and I let the last note rang out, feeling a bit jittery as I did so. Something about this piano was different, it just sounded...creepy. When I had first played the song, it had sound frankly beautiful, but I think this time it left me feeling a bit uneasy; scared.

Nobody said anything, or reacted, which kind of worried more.

Until a familiar voice spoke up from the far corner, "That was beautiful!"

Stepping out the shadows was Akiyama Mio, and if she had been gorgeous in Japan, she was a goddess here. Maybe it was the way her pale features looked under the firelight, or how her beautiful she looked in that purple dress with a shiny gold trim. It was a bit open towards the center, exposing her near perfect cleavage. I could see why Ritsu wanted to bury her face in those, I know I did.

I looked around again, and this time people were clapping, and smiling brightly towards me. My heart fluttered, nobody had ever applauded me like this, words couldn't describe it. Ricchan swooped over and through an arm around my shoulder, "That's my Mugi-chan right here!"

Mio gracefully approached us, bowing politely, "Lady Mugi-chan was it? I am pleased to meet you, my name is Princess Mio."

Ritsu and I told her of what had happened today, and I explained how I knew all of them back in Japan. Mio explained that her father was a king who ruled this land, and how he had been at war with a mercenary leader hiding in the mountains for many months now. Mio was well, still Mio. She detested violence and bloodshed, and therefore people thought she wouldn't make a good ruler if she ever became queen. Nonetheless, the people loved her, and she still had her fan club here too.

Then another familiar face revealed itself, speaking from the shadows, "That song you played... I know it."

I turned to face the shadows, asking whoever it was that was there, "You do?"

Mio nervously hid behind Ritsu as the shadows somehow slowly faded away to reveal this world's Sawako, sitting on a stood, dressed in tattered armor with a wolf skin cloak. She was sharpening a longsword with a whetstone and she spoke, "Yes, it's a song that the gods themselves hum in their glorious halls. Only someone from Asgard would know that song..."

"...Asgard..." Mio repeated, "...like the realm of the Gods?"

Creepy shadow Sawako nodded.

Ritsu threw her arm around me again, "Then Mugi-chan was probably sent here by the gods to help us with all our problems!"

Then Mio gracefully stepped over to us, clasping my hands in hers, looking into my eyes, "Oh please, you have to help us. If this is really true, then you are the savior we've needed for so long!"

"I..." Wasn't sure what to say, so I answered honestly, "...I can't save an entire kingdom! The winter, the fighting, the bad people, those aren't things I can do anything about."

Mio gave me a disappointed look, while Ritsu simply shook me a bit, "What kind of talk is that? You beat all those giants, and they're stronger than ten men each...so it's like you killed seventy people alone!"

"Don't word it like." I moaned, because the idea of killing anyone felt awful.

She continued, "And you did it because you're really wise, and only wisdom can help us here now! Plus you play piano, and we've needed a pianist for our band for a long time. Stupid Juutilainen over there won't share Lityvak."

On the other side of the bar, that Finnish girl eyed me down, and traced her finger across her neck. I gulped, and wished that we Finnish gals could just stick together, and not threaten to kill each other. Well, if push came to shove, I'm sure Sword-chan could do her job quite nicely. I couldn't fault her that much though, and I almost wished I had a friend that would threaten to stab people who tried to play piano when I was playing. That was pretty romantic.

"A band?" I repeated.

Ritsu nodded excitedly, "Yeah! I play the percussion stuff, and Mio there plays bass cello and sings. Her voice is so beautiful that it makes grown men weep! Well, not really, but it's still really good! With your piano playing, all we would need is a lute player or two!"

The cello wasn't invented for many centuries, but I didn't object, "Let me sleep on it, okay? I'm rather -*yawn*- tired right now, and I don't want to make a big decision just yet."

They agreed, and I was shown to a free room upstairs, which was rather small, dark, and drafty. It was lit by a single candle, and I almost considered asking Ritsu to sleep with me; but that was unbecoming. Pickles The Cat was glad to be out of my shirt, and curled up on the small floor bed, purring contently. I rested Sword-chan against the wall, and instructed her to wake me up if anyone other than Ritsu, Mio, or Ui opened the door. The Sawa-chan here was a lot different, so it was questionable whether or not I could trust her. I stripped down to my panties, and realized that I hadn't been wearing a bra that entire day; in the land of ice and snow. Since I had gone to bed and woken up here in my sleeping attire, there was never a chance for me to get dressed. Ritsu was lucky that I hadn't stabbed two holes in her clothes while holding onto her on horseback. That would have been embarrassing.

I crawled into bed and found it was made of reindeer fur blankets. I remembered them from my time in Finland, and how I tried to take some fur home...only to have all it shed and carpet my room in itchy hairs. This fur, however, was quite cozy and warm and I found myself falling asleep quickly.

But how were things back home? Was I actually gone? Or was time frozen there or something? Could I be in a coma of sorts? I didn't really like thinking about it, because it was really worrying.

I didn't know what was going to happen next, but I will say it was going to be quite the adventure...

_**TO BE CONTINED**_

__**Stupid obligatory author thing- **____I'll start off by thanking all you cool people who reviewed, because I fucking like getting reviews. This chapter ended up being a lot longer than I had intended, but overall I'm happy with it, and hope everyone liked what I did with it. Also, I know certain things in Norse Mythology here are off (some are intentional) but I'm trying my best and all that. Anyway, feel free to tell me what you'd possibly like to see in this.__

__Another Thanks to Starasp for spending a bit of time reading this over and making sure it was worthy for people.  
><em>_


	3. Tsumugi's Ride To Varyag

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 3**

**TSUMUGI'S RIDE TO VARYAG**

_**A Forward From Tastychainsaws (the author)~ BEHIND THE SCENES- **__If the magic sword and giants didn't give it away, this is a full blown fantasy story. I'd been wanting to a K-On! Fantasy epic for awhile, but could never think of any ideas for a plot. My original ideas involved all five girls adventuring together through a pretty generic setting, but I scrapped that since there was so little actual K-On! In that to be found (as opposed to this at least). I'm and avid Dungeons and Dragons player and Mugi has shown in my games a few times (as a 16__th__ level paladin) which is what prompted me to base the story around her. The thing with Eila and Sanya from Strike Witches was just kind of a spontaneous joke I came up with on the spot, so you won't be seeing any one else from that anime. The most important thing worth saying is that I fully intend to actually fucking finish this story. Every chapter is outlined and I know how it will end._

**MUGI'S ADVENTURE THROUGH TIME****AND SPACE**

It went without saying that I would join their band, playing the piano and helping write songs. I would probably take the previously existing songs _HTT _had written before and alter them to fit here. Morning came 'round before the sun was even up, with Ritsu waking me by forcefully nudging me. I sat up quickly, shirtless and all that, and smirked, "Is this breakfast in bed?"

"Breakfast?" Apparently that wasn't a word here, and knowing my luck, 'homo-eroticism_' _wouldn't be either. No luck at all, her eyes were level with mine. "Time to get up, we have a long day ahead of us!"

"What's going on?" I asked, looking around in the dark room for my shirt and bath robe.

"Lot's of stuff. First off, the great warlord Hirasawa is coming back to Sakuragyfli, so we need to make sure inn here is in top shape for her. Then we need to fortify the palisade in case of attacks from the warriors in the mountains. We're hoping Hirasawa will be willing to aid us in the defense, but I'm sure you alone will be enough to quell the invaders."

"M-Me!" I gasped. I hadn't remembered this being set in stone.  
>"Meow." Pickles The Cat snickered from my lap.<p>

Ritsu confidently nodded, "You bet. With that sword, I'm sure you could beat anyone. Now get dressed, Mio is already here!"

She left the room, and I dressed again, hoping my clothes weren't becoming smelly from being worn so much. This new bra-less existence wasn't all too bad, and it made me understand why men didn't wear them either. It left me with a new sense of profound freedom, no longer bound by the tyrannical clasps of lacy underwear. Pickles The Cat resumed his place in my clothes, which I'm sure was the envy of many men. I flinched in surprise when Sword-Chan took her place on my back, but I was certainly grateful to have her around.

As I stepped down the narrow stairway, my ears were greeted by the gorgeous melody of a deep sounding string instrument. I think it was a bass cello, but those were so obsolete in modern times that I had forgotten just what one sounded like. The tune was familiar though, and it took me a moment realize that it was a slower version of Mio's song _No, Thank You_ but played on the bass cello. I silently crept down the remainder of the stairs and observed from a distance, hoping that I didn't have too much blood left on me from those giants yesterday. I had meant to ask Ritsu about bathing, but it slipped my mind.

Mio stopped playing when she saw me, which was a disappointment because her song was so captivating, and smiled, "Ah, Mugi-chan, good morning!"

"Good morning." I replied, smiling as well, "Your song sounded as beautiful as you look. Which is quite beautiful."

She looked taken aback by my sudden compliment, which was all part of my plan mind you, and blushed, "W-Why thank you, how very kind..."

I stood next to her, seriously hoping I wasn't smelly, and replied, "Don't thank me, thank Ritsu, she told me to say that to you."

"Wha? Really!" Mio gasped, looking even more surprised, "Why would she say something like that?"

I shrugged, keeping the act going, "I dunno, maybe she likes you or something."

Mio placed the bow of cello down onto the table next to us, and gently shook her head, "No, she was probably getting you to say that to tease me."

"Oh don't say that." I instantly replied, not liking where this was going.

She stood up and looked about the inn, and the few people coming in for a morning drink, then said, "You don't know Ritsu, she likes to tease me about how I look. It's not like asked to be so...so..."

"Beautiful?" I finished.

"Yes..._that_." She seemed almost ashamed, "Like I said, it's not like I can help it. I have to keep up standards as a princess too."

"What's wrong with being beautiful?" I asked.

She took my hands in hers (which were quite large compared to mine), looked me in the eyes, and told me, "You don't understand Mugi-chan-"  
>"You're right. I don't."<p>

"-being beautiful may be a luxury where you come from, but it's a burden here. People tease you when you come into places like this, acting like you should be with nobles and the like. I just want to be like everyone else, but I get treated different... not to mention you're under constant fear when alone."

"Fear of what?" I asked.

She gave me a quizzical look, "...You know."

"I don't."

"Er, never mind..." She let go of me, and faced the other way all dramatically, "If only I were like you..."

My face took on a deadpan glare, "That's not exactly a compliment."

Then she turned back around, now a lot more passionate, "I'm not saying you're not beautiful, that's not it at all! But you're beautiful in a sort of strong way that's hard to describe. With your thick blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and body fit for battle, you look like one of the Valkyrie's from those tales! It's a beautiful that humbles people, makes them admire you from a far while you use it to boost your charisma. But then you have me...I'm a beautiful that makes people want to do bad things to me."

I agreed, I wanted to do very bad things to her. Smiling, I put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I think that's why Ritsu may like you?"

"Because she wants to do bad things to me?" Mio frowned.

I nodded, "Yeah, but- No wait, no, no, that's not what I mean." I sighed, and started over, "You make people want to protect you. People like you make people like me gladly take an arrow through the chest just to see you safe."

"You really think that?" She sniffled.

"Definitely. I'd totally lose a few limbs for your safety." I was only saying that because I didn't think I'd actually lose some limbs.

Mio threw her arms around me and hugged me tight, "Oh, thank you Mugi-chan, you're such a nice person." She let go of me, which sucked because the way her boobs felt again m-...wait no, this story was rated T. Bugger. Anyway, she let me go and smiled, "In fact, I think that makes you exempt from chores today. As long as you play us a cleaning tune as we work."

I was a bit dizzy because her hair had smelled _really _good, but I managed to reply with, "S-Sure can do...Let me play some stuff and you and Ritsu can think of your own stuff to play along with it. Uh, where is she anyway?"

"Off delivering a message for Tyr." Mio answered.

"Oh, okay." I had no idea who that was, "By the way, if you're a pretty princess, why are you doing peasant girl stuff?"

"I like to help out...it makes me feel... _normal_." She said...with lots of...ellipsis' thrown in.

That was the extent of our conversation, and her and a few other people went to work shining the place up for the arrival of their slaughter queen...who happened to be named Yui. I knew this Yui couldn't be the same Yui at all, since Hirasawa Yui-chan had never slaughtered or ruled anything. Slaughter Queen Yui sounded like someone who could have had _Painkiller _as their image song. Everyone needed an image song, and in case anyone was wondering, mine was _Starchild, _by _Wintersun_; although anything else by them would fit my journey in this world quite well. Anyway, I played some piano for them as they polished the _Consensual Moose Debauchery _up for the slaughter queen. I mostly played my _HTT _stuff, and as Juutilainen helped clean the mud and what looked to blood from the floor, she kept staring at me. At more than one point, I could have sworn I saw her polishing her knife while grinning at me. I just assumed that was my over active imagination.

It didn't take them all that long to get the place all neat and tidy, and I though it looked pretty good without all the muddy boot prints, and what was presumably animal blood that was sort of just splattered around at random. All the knocked over chairs where picked up too, and this now looked like almost a family restaurant. One of the ones that you run the risk of having your kids kidnapped and sold to the circus if left unattended. As I was finished up the really awesome harpsichord solo from _Red Light In My Eyes Pt2 _Mio approached me.

"You really are dextrous and quick with your fingers." She commented.

I wiggled them a bit in front of my face and agreed, "I've had years of practice from playing piano and doing other finger related activities. I could should you some cool training exercises to get your own fingers as masterfully nimble as mine."

"Oh, I hardly think this is the time." She turned my offer down. Mio was right though, my 'lessons' required privacy. "Anyway, I came over to say that it is quite odd that Ritsu is not back yet."

"Really, she's only been gone for about an hour?" That wasn't all that long at all, "How long is she normally gone?"

"Ton-chan and her know how to enter Bifrost from just about any point in Midgard, it's rare that her trips take more than a few minutes." Mio answered.

"Where was she going to?" Was my next question.

"To the neighboring kingdom to give the regent a letter written by my father asking for aid against the dreaded death witch who lives in mountains and plagues our fair town." Mio explained. I didn't really like hearing that, because it probably meant that people thought I would be able to kill the death witch. I had trouble killing mosquitoes, nonetheless peoples.

"Does she need to go across Bifrost to get there?"

"Er, probably not..." Mio turned to the door, and gently grabbed me by the arm, "...You're right, the trip will probably take longer then. Come with me and wait outside for her?"

"I could use some fresh air." I replied and followed her.

"Meow." Pickles the Cat said from inside my shirt, living the dream. We stepped outside into the snow, and I felt my toes already getting painfully cold through my slippers. I held my robe close to me, then noticed Ritsu sitting against the inn, massaging her ankle.

"Back already?" I asked.

She looked up at us and smiled, "Oh hey you two. Uh, don't mind me, just sitting here awaiting divine punishment."

"What are you talking about?" Mio asked.

"Divine punishment?" I was even more confused.

Ritsu nodded and smiled, holding up an envelope, "That's right, I was supposed to deliver the letter to the neighboring regent, then leave another one at the Well of Mirmir for Tyr to find. The well is right by the neighboring region, and is even on the way."

"So why didn't you go?" Mio and I asked in unison.

She raised her foot, "I twisted my ankle and cannot walk comfortably on it. I'm sure Tyr will be enraged for the delay and kill me. So I patiently await my fate, and will see you two and Valhalla."

"Ritsu, what the Muspelheim is wrong with you!" Mio smacked her over the head, "We need the support against the mountain raiders!"

I added, "Not to mention just laying down and accepting death like that is kind of, well..._derpy_. You're still young and have a life to live, full of love and adventure! Stop moping around and get up!"

"Wow, Mugi-chan, you really are wise." Ritsu remarked, and struggled to get to her feet, "It's not like I don't want to go, I just can't go on this bad foot. I couldn't even make it to Ton-chan! Oh, whatever will we do?"

Mio hummed, and thought for a moment, "This really is a predicament, isn't it?"

"I can go." I offered, trying to be useful. Ritsu had already done a lot for me, and they let me stay here, so this was the least I could do to repay them.

"Yeah, Mugi-chan can go!" Ritsu eagerly accepted my help, "I'll draw you a map right away!"

Mio wasn't as ecstatic, "Wait, she can't go!"

"Why not?" We asked in unison.

"It's not safe at all! The bandits, the dire wolves, the rapeboars, there are all sorts of horrors there!" She answered, looking scared for me. I was touched. Wait, what was the that third thing!

Ritsu pointed at Sword-Chan on my back, "She has Freyr's sword though! She could fight an army of giants _and _rapeboars!"

"What-boars?" I blinked.

Mio looked towards the ground, "...I don't know, I would feel awful if something happened to her..."

"Me too." I agreed.

Ritsu had a solution though, "Mio-chan, you're a cleric, why don't you go with her and heal if things go wrong?"

"I guess I could..." Mio still looked unsure.

I had a question, "Wait, what's a cleric?"

My black haired bassist answered politely, "I means I can draw magical power from a god or goddess through some degree of prayer and worship."

"Wow! That's really awesome, can you pull a rabbit at out of a hat!" I excited asked, and looked around for a hat because I wanted a pet bunny for Pickles the Cat to play with. I later learned that cats _eat _rabbits. It didn't matter, all that was around were snow, buildings, and barrels and people in the background serving as scenery.

Mio didn't look all that thrilled, and even a little upset, "It's not 'awesome' at all! How can I be normal if I can use magical powers that frighten away men?" She sighed, "...And I know what you're thinking, 'why be a cleric then?'"

I was actually thinking about if pulling a rabbit out of a hat would scare men away. If that were so, I would wear more hats. Instead, I replied, "If you want to be normal, then why do that? Do you even have a choice."

"I have a choice, but..." She paused, "I'll tell you along the way. Ritsu, may we borrow Ton-chan?"

The hairbandee nodded, "Definitely."

We went around the side of the in to mount the horse (not each other), and I realized this was a grand opportunity to lay down some moves for Ritsu. I would have to be subtle though, and gradually make her realize that she loved Ritsu too, and they would get married and have little Mio's and Ritsu's of their own. Also, I shouldn't have to point this out, I _know _girls can't have babies together. I'm imaginative, not stupid; something everyone should keep in mind. Anyway, as we began to ride off, Mio let me look at the map to the neighboring kingdom of _Varyag_, which according to this map was quite big compared to the little nation of Sakuragyfli which were currently in. That little village was the capital, since everything else had been destroyed, as Mio explained to me. She also explained en route how Varyag was facing similar problems with their people rebelling against the state, horrible demons from other worlds were showing up and attacking people, and gas prices were at an all time high. My previous conclusion that this was about 8th century Scandinavia was apparently wrong, because the map she showed me didn't look like any place on earth.

The map said we would first have to pass through the Everrape Woods, over the Aciddeath River, and across the Corpsefuck Plains. Either the person who named these places was trying way too hard to be edgy, or I was in for one heck of a trip. So I asked, "Mio-chan, why do all the places along the way have such awful names?"

"Hmm, I never really thought about it..." Mio answered. I was holding onto her just like I had been with Ritsu during the trip, but she was only wearing a purple silk dress, and not the furs that the hairbandee had. "Come to think of it, there are a lot of Dickwolves in the Everrape Forest, drinking from the Aciddeath river melts you from the inside, and the Corpsefuck Plains are full of lonely undead. So I guess all those places are aptly named...uh, want to turn b-back?"

She was scared apparently. That was the Mio I knew. I reached forward from behind her and took her hand in mine, "Don't worry, I'll protect you from any horrible monsters whose names I can't say aloud since it was established in the _Price of Attention _that I do not say bad words."

"If you're sure..." Mio didn't sound all too confident in me.

I clutched her shaking hand even tighter, it was numbingly cold from the touch, "I saved Ricchan and myself from a bunch of frost giants that killed like 20 men. You're safe with me. We're just delivering a message."

"Okay." She said, taking a deep breath, "I believe you."

I let go of her and shrugged out of my bath robe, the placed it over her shoulders, "There, you looked so cold that it was making me feel bad."

Mio fit herself into my robe (which was hard to do on horseback), and replied, "Aww, you didn't have to do that. What about yourself? You must be freezing in your light cotton garb. I cannot imagine a world where that is the standard attire."

"Nah, these are my pajamas, what I wear to bed. If it's cold, I wear more." I explained, then held onto her tight for warmth against the subzero temperatures, "Don't worry about me though, I'm fine."

"You're too good Lady Tsumugi." Mio whispered. I thought she sounded a little put off by my kind gestures, like she wasn't used to it.

"Oh, just call me Mugi." I modestly replied, then went to work beginning my romantic advances for Ritsu, "You know, when I rode with Ricchan, she would _not _stop talking about you. I can see why."

"Huh?" Mio sounded confused again, but it was hard to say without seeing her face, "W-What did she say about me? Nothing bad I hope."

"Oh no, nothing bad at all." I lied and assured her. Ritsu, of course, had slept through most of it, "She went on about how great you were, and even picked flowers in Jut-whatever-heim for you, but the giant's blood ruined it."

She gave what sounded like a frustrated sigh, "That's just like her, making fun of my nobility. It's like I said, I didn't ask for any of this. 'Oh, all bow down to the high and mighty Mio!'. Just what is her problem? I bet she wanted to give me flowers to remind me that I don't have a husband yet."

This wasn't going well at all, "I though she was, you know, actually admiring you. She said you two were best friends, maybe she meant those nice things. You can't just assume everyone's making fun of you."

"I guess..." She muttered, "Ritsu's just been acting weird lately, getting all nervous around me, always walking off in a hurry. Do you think I may have done something wrong? What if she hates me?"

I realized that this was going to be hard because Ritsu had left me so very little to work with, "Oh I don't think that's it...sounds like she's having trouble understanding her emotions. You should try spending more time with her, and if she gets nervous, call her out on it. Insist that you two being together should be like the days when she wasn't acting all awkward."

Mio was silent for a few minutes, probably thinking, "I'll really think on it, thanks for talking to me about it. You sure are good with people, I bet you'd have no trouble finding a great husband."

Even though she couldn't see me, I shook my head, "Oh, that's not likely. I haven't had a conversation with a boy my age in...well, pretty much ever."

"Why not?" Mio asked.

I shrugged, "No idea, nobody in my world seems to be all that interested in me. So I help other people find their true feelings towards others...not always successfully."

"Wow..." She sighed, "That's very noble of you, and you do this without thanks, or ever for yourself?"

"Romance and me were apparently not meant to be." I answered, not really bothered by that prospect. It wasn't that I was expecting to be alone my entire life, I just couldn't imagine myself with a boyfriend. The whole dating scene to me seemed like a bizarre world that I would never understand; which is why all my relationships had failed in junior high. The longest relationship I had was with a boy named Hideo the year before high school. I liked him a lot, he was really good to me, and overall I thought we both were really happy together. Then he left me and said I was something called "clingy" and too much of that. To this day, I still don't know what that's supposed to mean. People were confusing and for now, I was better off alone.

I stopped thinking about that stuff and turned my attention the forest we were now traveling through. It reminded me of the forests of Finland, when me and my family traveled there on occasion. Our narrow path was free from snow, while the rest of the forest around us was blanketed in it. The trees were narrow, lonesome things that stuck out of the ground like dead monuments to some forgotten time. There was hardly any live foliage peering through the layer of snow and ice covering everything. A three year winter had done much to damage the land.

Occasionally I saw other tracks in the snow beyond the path, like big kitty paw prints and maybe pig tracks. Except they were all rather large, like stuff that could eat me really easily. I didn't like being eaten; by animals at least. Something came up in my mind, and this long string of dialogue was extended even further. There would be action later though, because it wasn't like I would be able to get through the day without something trying to kill me.

"Hey Mio..." I spoke up.

"What is it?"

"What was all that about you being a cleric and being ashamed of it and stuff?" I brought up our conversation from earlier.

Mio was silent for a moment before speaking up, "I haven't told anyone this before Mugi, but I feel like I can trust you...I'm not actually a cleric."

"Huh." I huh'd, "So...isn't that a good thing? You said you didn't like it."

"I'm not some charlatan, I _can _use magic...but it's not given to me by the gods or by _Frigga _like I tell everyone it is." Mio explained, even if I wasn't really understanding it, "T-The truth is...I'm a _witch_."

"So you fly around with weird, magical airplane legs with cat ears shooting weird, magical alien airplane things?"

"Witches sound very different in your world." Mio replied, momentarily distracted, then mournfully spoke, "Mugi, you do not understand what it means to be a witch here in Sakuragyfli, and why I must keep it secret."

"Oh?" Now I was interested.

"People who do not draw their magic from the gods have always been exiled, if not killed here. Many witches and warlocks have tormented our people for very long; most notably the awful death witch Mugitsu who resides in the mountains with her legions of the dead..."

_Wait, did she just say Mugitsu?_

"...and therefore the people would sure turn against me if they knew, so I put on this charade. In other countries, such as Lesfain, witches are given names like 'mage' or 'wizard' and are allowed to live like queens and kings if they lend their magic out for the people. Even in Canticeal, where magic is heavily regulated and controlled, their witches are still accepted. What of your world Mugi, how are your magic users treated?"

"They aren't." I simply replied.

"I do not understand."

"I mean, we don't have any magic. No monsters, giants, magic swords, none of that."

"Oh my!" Mio gasped, "That sounds so wonderful...wait, didn't you say there was another girl you knew named Akiyama Mio? I had meant to bring this up again."

"Right, you two are almost exactly alike." I replied, and noticed up ahead we were coming to a stone bridge some five meter wide, going over a large rushing river pouring down from the mountains, it was tinted yellow.

"But without magic." Mio finished.

"Right." I noticed we were slowing down for some reason, like Ton-chan was nervous or something, "Say, is that the Aciddeath River?"

"They are." She said, then pointed over to the field snow beyond, "And those are the Corpsefuck plains. We are about halfway there." Mio leaned forward and patted Ton-chan's head, "Why're you slowing down girl?"

"Meow." Pickles The Cat said for the first time in hours.

I bopped him gently on the head and whispered, "Don't say things like that!"

"Meow."

"I don't care how good your eyes and ears are!" I Mugi-hissed at him, as Ton-chan slowly began trotting across the stone bridge. Her hooves clacked loudly, and everything seemed deathly quiet. No wind, the rushing water (acid?) beneath us was strangely muffled, and all the birds were silent.

Mio shuttered and whispered to me, "Mugi, I'm k-kind of scared right now."

"I'm sure there's nothing to- Oh hey, look at that!" Just as I was trying to make her feel better, figures began appearing out of thin air beyond and behind the bridge. My first thought was ghosts, but these just appeared to be big men in chainmail armor and bearskins, wielding axes and swords. There were eight on either side of the bridge, and in front of us a man in fur lined blue robes stood forward.

"Well, well, well..." He began, his voice sinister and his arms crossed, "...Look here men, we caught ourselves a princess and another fine lass there. Akiyama is it? I heard you were quite the priestess, and I find it funny that you would fall for such simple enchantments. You two will dismount unless you want to see the demise of your steed."

His men all took a step closer, and I noticed some of them were drawing crossbows. Mio and I obliged, and I took her trembling hand in mind as we stood side by side, flanked my these men. Pickles The Cat crawled out of my shirt and resided on my shoulder, which was uncomfortable since he was a big kitty. Mio spoke, trying to keep from crying it sounded like, "Wh-what do you people want from us. We're just simple messengers to Varyag."

The robed man paced a bit as he replied, "The nation of Mercett, far to the west, is in dire need of pretty women to keep its men satisfied. You would not believe the price they're offering for each head; or should I say body? Well worth the effort of smuggling you through Canticeal, don't you think? Anyways, come quietly and not a single hair on either of your lovely heads will be harmed."

Mio took a step forward, but I yanked her back and fiercely whispered, "What are you doing!"

She faced me, tears in her eyes, "We can't fight them Mugi, there are too many. It's best to just oblige, and maybe attempt escape later if we live long enough."

I shook her a bit by the shoulders, "What are you talking about? What's with you and everyone here just giving up without a fight? Okay, you said you had magic right? Magic that could heal?"

Miss Scaredy Pants nodded, "T-That's right...and s-some offensive s-spells."

As if reading my mind, Sword-Chan, freed herself from my back, hovering just slightly above the stone beneath us. The slaver man looked like he was growing tired of our whispering, and called out, "So, what will it be ladies!"

Mio whispered one last time before turning around, "Hold on to me."

I faced the slaver guy and bravely shouted, "Look friend, you can't just go around enslaving pretty girls to do questionable things in far off lands! That's not nice! It's probably why you don't have a girl-friend, so we're going to say no."

He rolled his eyes, "Kill them!"

I grabbed onto Mio from behind, and _Brocas Helm's Defender Of The Crown _played because it was epic battle music. In all seriousness though, I was terrified, fearful of my life, and really didn't want to die. But at the same time is was exciting, because I knew that with Sword-Chan and Mio's magic, we had a real chance of winning. I took out giants in seconds flat, so what were a few measly raiders? Plus, how much could I tell about myself if I had never been in a fight? Part of me was secretly hoping I would take a sword slash or a crossbow bolt to the arm, nothing fatal of course, just to see what it was like.

The slavers fired their crossbows, but a massive gust of hurricane force wind blew over the battlefield, blowing the projectiles away. Several people were knocked over, and Pickles The Cat had his claws in my shoulder (which hurt quite a bit). Mio had her arms up in the air, and to my surprise, was floating a few inches above the ground. I had to hold on to her tight to avoid being knocked over by the wind too, but she didn't seem to have any problems. Sword-Chan flew after someone behind us, and I heard a curt scream, then the yelling of the others with him.

"Down!" Mio shouted, and I obliged, throwing myself on stone bridge, facing away from her. I wish I hadn't faced the way behind us, because Sword-Chan's work was grizzly. One of the raider's decided to charge the bridge with axe in hand, but was stopped when my magical blade swiftly flew over and removed him of his legs. I guess it was mercy that he was also swiftly decapitated before he could even scream.

A deafeningly loud noise, like a thunderclap, rang out in my ears, leaving me momentarily deaf and my ears ringing. I looked behind me towards Mio, and saw lightening arcing between each of the men across the bridge. Being deaf then was a good thing, because I couldn't hear the screams of their agonizing deaths. The robed leader was still up, shouting something and moving his arms frantically, which caused a burst of light to appear from his finger tips, followed by several glowing arrow-like projectile firing at Mio. She raised her arms up, and was shielded by them by a glowing disc of energy. Their magical duel distracted me from Sword-Chan presumably hacking more people up.

I got to my hands and knees, and saw Ton-chan galloping off back the way he came. I crawled to the side so I could get a better view of Mio doing her handy work, which was quite amazing to say the least. Her hands moved frantically, like she was trying to draw some complex kanji in mid air. She was just a few inches off the ground, with her hair blowing wildly from the remains of her magical spell, all while she frantically danced her fingers around hands about Sparks fell from them, and she pointed at the enemy wizard guy. He just turned into dust. I made a mental note note not to get on her bad side.

Meanwhile, Sword-Chan had made short work of the two crossbow guys on my side, marked by the several severed limbs lying about. Blood was all around the snow now, and I was glad then that I wasn't too squeamish, or else I would have fainted. Two left on Mio's side, who had somehow survived her lightening attack, and four left on my side. Those six made a mad dash for us, with one promptly decapitated by Sword-Chan. They were quick on us instantly, before my sword could come and help. Mio did the hand thing for another spell, and topped all the others with this new one.

A whirling dome of swirling and spinning blades appeared around us like a protective barrier. The attackers didn't have to time to react, and ended up running straight into it. I equated them going through that thing to a block of wood going through a wood chipper. Blood, guts, bits of bone, and equipment flew everywhere in all directions from them as they were reduced to pieces from the spell. A jagged piece of metal, the remains of one of their swords, ended up clipping my eyebrow, sending a flare of pain up. I felt blood running down my face from it, and winced at the sudden pain. As quickly as it had appeared, the blade barrier spell disappeared.

I sat against the side of the bridge as Ton-chan returned. Pickles The Cat was sitting on my lap, and my pajamas and I were now splattered with the blood of nearly half a dozen _people_. Not giants, not monsters, but _humans_. People who had real lives, friends, family, thoughts, memories, dreams, and hopes. Now their jellied remains were all over me. I think Mio was calling my name, but I couldn't hear her. All I could hear was a ringing, and all I could feel was the pain from my forehead, and a twinge of agony from my thigh...where there was a crossbow bolt sticking out. Not only had I actually been _shot _during the fight, I hadn't even noticed it. I was more bothered by the fact that I wasn't bothered by the pain than the actual pain itself. It almost felt sort of, well, _exciting_.

"-gi, Mugi! Can you hear me!" Mio was shaking my shoulders back and forth, sobbing for some reason.

"Y-Yeah..." I managed to get out, my ears still ringing although my hearing was back. Everything felt so surreal then. Mio grabbed my into a tight hug, accidentally grazing against my crossbow wound (which felt strangely good), and was crying harder.

"Oh thank Odin, I thought I had nearly lost you!" She was rocking me back and forth, "I'm so sorry! I should have never allowed you to come out here, and now you're wounded and your clothes are ruined!"

"They can always be washed." I reminded her, showing that my priorities right now were definitely straightened out. Mio stepped over to Ton-chan and retrieved a handkerchief from a saddle bag and cleaned up both our faces. I didn't think it mattered all that much, since the sight of blood didn't seem to bother really anyone here. My hands were shaky as she wiped my face, and I was trying to get over that fight best I could. Those people were bad people, and getting rid of them was probably doing the world a kind favor...but I couldn't get over the fact that they were real people and I had played some part in their deaths.

Mio sat next to me then, and quietly asked, "You're afraid of me now, aren't you?"

"Why would I be?" I asked in turn. She raised a pale hand, dotted with blood, and pointed towards the corpses of the slavers across the bridge.

"I remember when Ricchan and I helped defend Sakuragyfli against the raiders from the mountains, and when I first used my magic to harm another living thing. She didn't speak to me for days following that, neither did anyone else. All the times I had healed their cuts, soothed their diseases, and chased away shadows on dark nights. It was all forgotten and replaced with fear for those who witnesses just what these powers can do. They told themselves and me that I was gifted by the Gods, and therefore it was okay. Imagine if they knew the truth though."

"Nothing would change." I assured her, even though I had standard to really base that on, "I'm sure they would love you all the same; especially Ricchan. Chances were she was so awe struck by your dazzling performance she became shy around you. Because it was so cool. Speaking of cool magic tricks, er, mind helping me out with this?" I pointed towards the crossbow bolt kindly sticking out of my thigh, "While it looks cool, this isn't _Metal Gear Solid 3_, so I think keeping there would pose future problems."

"Oh, I completely forgot!" She gasped, her hands lighting up with holy blue light, "Hold on, this is going to feel a little funny."

Mio pressed her fingertips against my scratched eyebrow, and the light around her hands became brighter, forcing me to squint. The sensation was difficult to describe, it made me squirm a bit, my toes curl, and caused me to sharply inhale. I was expecting it to sting like that awful spray that people use for scrapes, but no, this felt really, _really _good.

"Meow." Pickles The Cat smirked at me.

I gasped and blushed at his remark, "Why, I never..."

The black haired healer's hands returned to their boring, not glowing state, and she looked down at the bolt still sticking out of me, "Luckily it's just a flesh wound, and a light one at that. This may sting a bit."

"Oh, I'm sure that- _AAAEEEEIIIGHHHHH!" _I pretty much screamed as she mercilessly yanked the bolt out, and began her glowing hands healing work again. I was more or less babbling the whole time, "Ow, ow, ow , oweee, ow, o-, ohh that feels a lot better. See anymore injuries to treat?"

"No, looks good to me." She answered, observing the rest of my body.

"D'aww..." I pouted.

Mio looked surprised, "Wait, you liked that feeling? The feeling of healing magic."

I nodded eagerly, then reached for Sword-Chan, "Yes, yes, very much yes. In fact, I could probably lose a few of these pesky fingers...Do you have any salt?"

She grabbed my arm before I could go for the blade, "Whoa, I get that it feels good, but let's not d-do anything d-drastic, okay? Not to mention my powers _can _run out if I don't rest in between uses."

"Right." I scratched the back of my head, "Sorry about that, I don't know what came over me."

"It's fine..." Mio stood back up and observed the battlefield, looking pale. With my thigh now crossbow bolt free, I stood up easily and grimaced at the blood and guts everywhere. My gag reflex was triggered briefly, and looking at the trail of intestines following someones severed torso through the snow was definitely going to make me vomit if I-

My train of thought was interrupted as turned around, looked over the side of the bridge and hurled up what I had eaten for breakfast at the inn. I felt Mio's arms holding me from behind, trying to offer some comfort, and I really appreciated. I spat just once more, and pushed myself away from the edge of the bridge, "That's all, I'm ready to go far away from here now Mio."

"We can go back if you want." She offered.

"No, no, I want my murders to have not been in vain. I'm anal about this kind of thing." I replied, stepping towards Ton-chan, and feeling quite light headed.

"Right..." Mio said once more, and we mounted (the horse) and began the rest of our trip there. The Corpsefuck plains were a vast sea of white snow dotted with the occasional shrug or scenic rock. The path through the plains was wider, and it was impossible for anything to ambush here in the open... Unless someone pulled that invisibility nonsense again. As we rode, I thought about how I would have to talk to Ricchan about giving me something, _anything_, to work with for this romantic quest. Mio was paranoid about people making fun of her, and Ricchan probably made fun of her a lot. Right now, I decided to try my hand on getting Mio interested in her again.

"Say, did I tell you about the Mio and my world and Ritsu?" I asked, quite rhetorically.

"No, you did not." Mio answered, "How different are they?"

"Not all that different, believe it or not. Setting is different, but you are quite the same in terms of personality; although you're more beautiful than the other Mio I know. Oh, one difference worth noting... The Mio and Ritsu from my world are lovers."

"What?" Mio blurted out.

"Yes, the happiest couple I've ever met." I proudly told her, which was only half true. Depending on how this relationship went, I would totally work at getting the Mio and Ritsu I knew in my world to realize their feelings for each other.

"That..." Mio paused, then shuttered, "Oh come on Mugi, why would you tell me something like that?"

"Just thought you'd like to know." This was bad, she sounded offended.

"That's...I don't have words for that..." She shuttered again, and no more conversation was had between us after that. This was going to be harder than I thought.

Before long, the smoke of chimneys greeted us in the distance, followed by heavily fortified stone walls that towered some ten meters high. I took out the map again, and saw the place to be called _Kotomabourne_, at the very edge of Varyag's border of Sakuragyfli. We were coming in from the southwest, while several roads from other directions fed into this one, all meeting together at the large gates of the city. I wasn't sure what our message duty entailed, so I asked, "Who do we give the message to?"

"A friend of mine, a woman named Himeko who should find us quickly. We won't be here long, I'll also ask her to pass the note to Tyr off." Mio replied.

"How would she find us so quickly?" I asked, for Kotomabourne seemed like a large city.

"She's a _diviner_, a type of witch who specialize in using magic to find people or things." She further explained as we passed through the massive oaken gates. People around us on foot and horseback passed in also, and I stared in awe at their strange clothes and how some of them didn't look human at all. Some people had pointed ears, some looked like full grown men, but were only half the size and quite adorable, and some had scary looking horns. Kotomabourne's buildings were like the ones in Sakuragyfli, but much larger and grander. Many of them were four or more stories high, all interconnected with a maze of cobblestone streets between them. People were bustling about, shouting, talking, laughing, and my eyes were always wandering.

"Akiyama!" Someone called out over the noise of the city, just as we were rounding the corner of the 15th coffee shop we'd passed. I looked over and saw a girl of about our age in a fancy green silk dress that rivaled Mio's in term of beauty. Her hair was a dusty amber color, and her eyes were the color of gold. I recognized her, this was Himeko from our class back home, the one who never really did anything. She didn't seem all that bothered by all the blood on us, but then again, plenty of other people had blood on them too.

"Himeko!" Mio happily waved, and dismounted on the side of the road. The two of them quickly hugged, and I was introduced, "This is my escort, Lady Mugi-chan. Lady Mugi-chan, this is my dear friend Himeko."

"A pleasure to meet you." I said while dismounting.

She eyed me up and down, looking more curious than anything, "Nice to meet you two, Miss Mugi. I'm guessing you two ran into trouble on the way here?"

Mio nodded, "Slavers, but Mugi and I made short work of them."

"Was their leader a Mercian mage?" Himeko asked Mio, who nodded again.

"Yes, how'd you know?"

Himeko reached into her pocket and drew out a small bag of coins, which she handed to Mio, "Father wanted me to reward whoever dealt with them, fifty gold here. You have the message for him?"

Mio nodded for a third time, and handed over the envelope, "Tell him that Slaughter Queen Yui is amidst us too. Also, I have a letter for Tyr to be left at the Well of Mirmir."

"Got it." Himeko replied, and took the second envelope, then pointed towards me, "What about the _chooser of the slain_? Do you count her amongst your ranks?"

"Chooser of the what?" I blinked.

Mio chuckled, "Oh no, Mugi is just my friend visiting from Aibureido, she's not a Valkyrie."

Himeko looked almost disappointed, "Oh, ah well. Don't worry, I'll get these messages delivered, catch you two later."

"Goodbye." Mio bowed, already turning back to Ton-chan. I quickly joined her side.

"What was she talking about, _chooser of the slain_?" I asked as we mounted (the horse) for the return trip. I was hoping we'd get home for dinner, because Ui made quite the pickled rock cod. This world was fun because here cod was a fish and not a video game series. She told me she'd explain when we got out of the noise and bustle of the city and back on the road south east to Sakuragyfli again. The shadows were getting longer, even if the sun was behind the clouds, and I could tell we wouldn't make it home before dark. When we were safely traveling out of the city, I brought up the chooser of the slain thing again.

"It's what Valkyries are." Mio explained, "They ride from Odin's court to collect dead warriors to bring back. There, the warriors become Einherjar, and fight all day and drink mead all night."

"Goat beer." I frowned.

"Yes, and when Ragnarok comes, they will advance with Odin onto Vigriors field against all the evil gods. When that happens, they that Surtur will cover the earth in flames and destroy everything. Including all life." Mio didn't seem all too happy to relay that tale, and after a moment she added, "...and people talk of Ragnarok being upon us soon."

"Yikes." I shuttered, not really wanting to die in fire, "Sounds like someone should go and tell that Surtur guy not to kill everyone. That's what'd I do. I'm persuasive, I could talk him out of it."

Mio giggled, "That's what I like about you Mugi, you make everything sound so simple."

I think it really was that simple, but we didn't discuss it more as we rode back. I was flattered though that I was mistaken for someone sent from the head god to personally find people for his army. That was like when people back in the other world mistook me for an office woman, a fashion model, Janne Wirman and even Johan Hegg. The ride through the Plains were spooky because shadowy figures kept eying us from the distance, but never moved towards us. They were skinny, looking almost skeletal. The Aciddeath river as acidic and deadly as ever and the Woods were just as creepy and lonely as before. The entire trip back was dull and uneventful, with no real conversation between us. We were both exhausted and ready to just go home, eat, and sleep. I think it was worse for Mio, because she had just looked more tired since all that magic casting.

When the village came into view, we noticed a lot more people were out bustling about, and three were riding towards us on horseback as an early greeting. They rode up to us, two men and a woman, with one of them speaking to Mio. He had long blonde hair under his metal helmet, with an equally long beard.

"Lady Akiyama, the death witch of the mountains struck again in your absence." He informed her. We both gasped though.

"H-How did it g-go?" Mio stammered, clearly not ready to hear this.

He shook his blonde locks, "Four dead, nearly a dozen wounded. Slaughter Queen Hirasawa showed up at the last moment and drove them away with her legendary blade, _murasame. _Juutilainen lead the militia forces against them. She lead them bravely, but we aren't any match without Hirasawa, who has experience in this kind of field."

"T-Take me to the survivors, I want to know exactly what happened h-here." Mio instructed, then looked back at me and said, "Go to the inn and get something to eat, then go to sleep, I don't want you getting involved in this right now. I'm sorry, but it could be dangerous, especially if they come back."

"Oh...alright." I pouted, feeling excluded. The five of us rode back down the main road of the town, and I finally noticed the stone fortress just outside town against the mountains. That must have been where Mio lived with her royal family and stuff. I was impressed, it looked like quite the place. She stopped to tie Ton-chan up at the side of the inn, and I was greeted by Ricchan.

"Oh man, Mugi, you missed everything!" She excitedly told me, then noticed something, "Hey, you're covered in even more blood, how'd that happen?"

"Long story..." I muttered, realizing she was right, "So the Slaughter Queen is here, and *yawn*... Oh my, I'm more tired than I thought."

"Mhm, she fought off all those stupid raiders alone with her sparkling sword, the _maursame!_" Ricchan replied, just as Juutilainen was stomping over towards us. She had a few bandages around her sky blue jacket and white tights. For some reason, she didn't look very happy at all.

"Good evening Juu-" I managed to say before she found it in her liking to punch me square in the face. My head spun and I fell backwards into the snow, feeling the cold bite me through my clothes.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ritsu shouted, and was holding her back as she tried to go for me again. I managed to sit up, and wipe my nose with the back of my hand. There was blood. Tears were forming in my eyes, that had really hurt, and had been really mean!

"W-What was that for?" I whimpered.

"For giving people false hope!" She growled at me, trying to wrestle out of Ritsu's grip around her. False hope though? What had I done here besides escort Ritsu back safely, and go with Mio? People had talked about me _possibly _helping with the town defense, but it was never established that I was now the Jesus of this world.

"What are you talking about!" I shouted at her, getting to my feet again.

Juutilainen gave Ritsu a swift elbow and broke free of her, and met me face to face, but wasn't throwing fists again. If she did though, I would be ready this time. "Your little story last night about killing all those giants got around pretty quickly, you know. Why wouldn't it though? Nobody can kill frost giants, except the best of the best. Then you leave with Princess Akiyama, without telling anyone. Mugitsu leads her forces against us again, and people shout and cheer because we finally have an ace against them. The battle starts, and _bam_, you're not there, and four of us are dead before we can even figure out what's going on."

"That wasn't my fault though!" I shouted again, trying my hardest not to cry. Didn't they see? _None_ of this was my fault, and it wasn't like I had been the one going about bragging that I was some masterful warrior.

She grabbed me by the collar and pulled me in close, close enough to smell her breath. It was quite Finnish, "I got a close look at Mugitsu too, and was almost close enough to throw my dagger into her black and twisted heart. Know what I saw in her face?"

"S-Snow?" I stuttered.

"I saw _you_!" She shouted, then shoved me back into the snow again, "That's right, Mugitsu looks quite a lot like you, just with different color hair. Come to think of it...Tsumugi...Mugitsu...those names sound quite a lot alike."

I couldn't believe this, "A-Are you implying that I'm related to her or something?"

Juutilainen turned around, already storming away, "I'm not implying anything. You got on Princess Akiyama's good side, so my feelings don't matter at all. But you'd better give me some good reason to trust you."

Ritsu quickly helped me up, using her fur lined cloak to wipe blood off my face, "Forget her, she's just upset about the battle. Don't cry Mugi, there's nothing you could have done."

"I...I...I..." I found it hard to form words when I was about to cry. Tears were running down my face, and my nose was beginning to run. This was awful, I felt awful, and just wanted to go to bed.

"Want to be alone?" She asked, and I nodded, prompting her to escort me inside where it was warm, "Lets get you in bed and I'll bring you something to eat, okay? Tomorrow morning you can take a bath, and we'll get your clothes washed too."

I nodded again, feeling just so utterly small. I hated it, I hated how everyone else was acting so brave but me. I didn't want to be in some situation where people's fates and lives depended on me, that wasn't what I wanted at all. But I wanted to help everyone best I could, without taking a center stage role. In my life, I had learned that people were generally reasonable if you knew how to talk to them, and that was precisely what I knew how to do. While that slaver guy had just been a bully, I'm sure Mugitsu could be talked to. For those who didn't know, Mugitsu had been a fabrication of my own imagination at one point, back when I had schemed up a scheme to get people to notice me more. Basically, she was the antitheses of me and someone had one disguised as her for their own twisted means. Whenever that name came up, Mugitsu, it was assured that nothing good would come from it.

As I went to bed, and stripped back down into my panties, I wondered what Mugitsu being here could mean. Was this all some kind of massive fabrication of my own imagination, and I was stuck here until I completed some task? Or was this a real life place I had ended up via magic, and people coincidentally mirrored the friends of my own world? It also made me wonder if I would meet a version of myself, or if Mugitsu was just that.

The most important question was obviously- Was there even a way home?

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

_**Author's Notes- **__Thanks everyone again for the reviews, and the continued support. I use the feedback to improve on this story anyway way I can. Here's what you can expect in the further chapters... More adventure, more friendship, and most of all... more romance! Yeah, this will pretty much be a full blown yuri story; but I don't think it will be quite what you think._

A massive thank you to _Dioxine _for his beta-reading and prompting me to think hard on Mugi's character development in this.


	4. The Blade Of Autumn Rain

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 4**

**THE BLADE OF AUTUMN RAIN**

_**Preliminary Author Note- **__Disaster recently struck the laptop I frequently use for writing this story. This means two things; both good and bad. Good news- Less distractions now that I can only use other peoples computers to focus on this and nothing else. Bad news- Lost the music I use for inspiration, and the beta-reading process is slowed._

**THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES…**

A good night's sleep was all I really needed to get myself together again. The next day came 'round, and I managed to sleep through Pickles The Cat nigh constantly stepping on my face throughout the night. Cats were nocturnal creatures for the most part, and he spent a good deal of his time safely sleeping in the confines of my clothes during the day. In hindsight, the notion of that was rather absurd, but I certainly wasn't going to complain. However, I had become used to his midnight stompings across my face, and it no longer woke me like it once had. The only indicator that he had done such a thing came from the strange twists my dreams kept taking. What _did _wake me up, however, was Ricchan using Pickles the Cat to poke me in the face. I sat up upon waking and she stopped using my pet as a weapon.

Yawning, I said. "You know, there are much better ways to wake a lady. Much more so than prodding her with vivacious mammal. Err, any particular reason you're waking me at this hour with Pickles the Cat. With my state of undress, people could make many lewd innuendos regarding a slang term for cats."

Pickles The Cat wiggled out of her grasp and hopped behind me, glaring at Ricchan disdainfully. She shrugged, "I wanted a unique way to wake you, and it had to be bright and early. There's a lot going on today."

"Oh?" I raised one of my famous brows.

Ritsu explained, "Juutilainen was quite upset about how you disappeared without warning. So I did the best thing I could do to make it up to her!"

"What is that?"

"I signed you up for the watch! Our scouts said that the general of Mugitsu's army himself is coming down the mountain to look for herders to pick off." She was _way _too excited about this.

"Herders?" I queried, not knowing what she meant by that.

"Oh, we have people tending sheep up in the mountains, along with goats and stuff. The general likes to fly down and eat them all." She still sounded _way _too excited about this.

The room was dark, so I couldn't tell how well she could see my face, but I was scowling about as hard as I could scowl, "So let me get this straight, and correct me if I'm wrong…but you signed me up to help fight against some flying general in this evil army?"

Ritsu smiled and nodded, "Yep, that's about it."

I sighed, and laid back down on my back, "I'm starting to feel like you're using me to kill things you don't like. "

"Don't worry, it's not like you'll be alone." She assured me.

I sat back up, wishing it wasn't so gosh doodily cold in that room. Being shirtless didn't help either. I smiled and asked, "So you're coming with me then?"

"Oh no," She waved her arms in denial, "I could die doing that. You get to go with Hirasawa and Juutilainen. Aww, don't frown like that. Get dressed though. We're going to the bath house in Castle Sakuragyfli. Mio's personal maid is going to wash up your clothes too, so it's all good. Oh, that reminds me, how did wooing her go, did you start!"

I looked around for my shirt, then slid it over my head and onto my body, and answered, "Uhh, well, to be honest, you didn't leave me with all that much to work with."

"What do you mean?"

"I can flirt circles around her all day, but that doesn't really help her notice you." I explained.

"It doesn't?"

"No, she just thinks I'm being awfully nice to her. I tried telling her that you said really nice things to her, but she thought you were just making fun of her." I went on, then looked around for my pajama pants and…wait, I had never gotten my robe back from Mio. Anyway, I had remembered putting my clothes in a neat little pile, and now they were scattered.

Ritsu blushed, "Yeah…I probably shouldn't have made fun of her all those times."

I stopped what I was doing and just kind of stared at her, somewhat unsure of what to say to that. "Look Ricchan, I want to help. I really do. But you have to give me something to work with here. The chance that Mio is actually even gay is slim enough, so getting her to fall in love with you, her best friend, is no easy task. When you go around making fun of her and doing other stupid stuff, it's even harder."

"Oh…well…what should we do then?" She asked, looking quite disheartened.

I sighed, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't give up. Soon you two will be holding each other tight on a moonlit night as you lay naked together and…I'm going to stop here, but you should at least make some effort to show her that you're not just making fun of her and that you care. I can't do all the work here."

Ritsu hugged me tight, "Thanks Mugi-chan. You're such a great friend. It's a miracle that we were able to meet."

I hugged her back, "You're too kind, but my feelings are the same. It is great to meet all of you, even if I do miss the friends from my world. You said something about a bath though?"

We let go of each other and she nodded. "Yeah, come on. I'll take you there right now." She pretty much dragged me out the door before I could say anything. Down the stairs, across the bar room, and out the front door where the cold instantly went after my exposed toes. The people going about their morning business in the dusk lit village all turned and looked. I noticed then that I was still quite covered in blood. Ricchan looked around for a moment. "Huh, why is everyone staring?"

"Because you d-didn't l-let me p-p-ut p-p-pants on!" I shivered, feeling my loins freeze from the stupidly cold weather. Cotton panties did little to protect against the icy winds, even if I was in dire need of a good trimming. Not to mention the lack of bath robe didn't help either.

"Oh…right…" Ricchan realized, not even checking out the silky smooth skin of my legs. "Oh hey, look…pants."

Indeed, a pair of blood stained gray cotton pajama pants were slowly moving across the ground towards us. I realized that I was probably in some sort of dream, since this fit a lot of the criteria. No pants, pants moving on their own, people staring; yep…dreaming. This was better than my most recurring nightmare though. In it, I'd be in love with Azusa for some reason, and in my dream, I'd go and tell her my feelings. Then everything would fall apart because spaghetti would fall out of my pocket, I'd burst into treats, and everybody would open the door get on the floor everybody walk the dinosaur. Pickles the Cat's head popped out from underneath them.

"Oh. It's just Pickles the Cat." I pointed out the obvious. "Why thank you for bringing me my clothes."

"Meow," he replied and waded through the snow to me. I winced at the cold underneath my feet and slipped on my pajama pants, now glad that people were going back to what they were doing. Much to my pleasant surprise, I found two slippers hiding under my pants. Pickles The Cat had thought of everything. So I slipped them on and looked down at my fluffy feline. "Wow, you_ did _think of everything."

Sword-chan was in his mouth, but he released her and she took her faithful place on my back.

Ritsu took my hand. "Shall we go then?"

"After you." I bowed.

As I said before, the castle-fort-thingy was built into the mountain, so we had to leave town to the north then head up a mountain trail to get to it. The mountain was strangely devoid of snow, and was a mound of jagged rocks and with dead corpse trees sticking out. I saw many other paths leading up there, but a lot of them looked treacherous and narrow. As we walked up the path, Ritsu pointed east. "The death witch Mugitsu lives in her palace just over these peaks, and has been a problem for months now. Just recently she's been going all out… Man, what I wouldn't give to just be able to go at her one on one. At least we have Slaughter Queen Hirasawa here to help."

"I had been meaning to ask about her, she's Ui's sister, right?"

Ritsu nodded, "Yep, but they're not anything alike."

"You've met her?" I further probed.

"Well, not personally, because she's always going away on duty because she's part of some group I'm not allowed to know about."

"And she's just getting back?"

"Yep, returned last night." We were getting near the iron portcullis gates of the castle, and Ritsu continued, "She's really creepy though. Never talking to anyone and always looking so sad. They say she's part of a group called _The Sentinels_, but Juutilainen and Litvyak are too, and they're nothing like her. I almost want to go and try to talk to her, but she just seems so distant."

I felt bad for her, just from what Ritsu was telling me. "It sounds like she needs a friend."

She just laughed, "Can someone like her have friends though?"

That made me feel almost offended. "Anyone can have friends, even someone like Mugitsu! I bet that's all Mugitsu really needs, nonetheless Hirasawa!"

"Meow!" Pickles The Cat agreed, though I had only seen him use friends for evil acts against me.

"Wow, you sure are trusting Mugi-chan." Ricchan shook her head. I just nodded, holding back the urge to scream something like,_ "OF COURSE I AM!", _but that would be silly. In all seriousness, I think everyone deserved a chance to be trusted, and I wanted to be friends with Mugitsu, not kill her. We passed under the raised iron gates into a dismal looking courtyard. It was pretty big; about the size of our school's gym back home. There were men in armor doing pushups and fighting practice dummies against the walls while the center was pretty clear. Clutter was everywhere, with mud and slush all beneath it. Sitting on a bale of hay, I saw Juutilainen with that other pianist girl. The latter was asleep, her head lying on Juutilainen's lap. She immediately saw me, but only reacted by drawing her knife and sticking it into the hay beside her.

I didn't think she liked me all that much.

We didn't walk far in before a girl in a pretty traditional looking French maid outfit hurried over. Her hair was a reddish brown, and tied into two pretty bushy pigtails; I had felt like I had seen her before. She trotted over, raising the front of her dress, trying desperately to keep it out of the mud. Frantically, she asked, "You t-two are here for the bath house, r-right?"

"Jeez Mikuru, I've been coming here since I was his height." Ritsu pointed at Pickles the Cat, who was continually eyeing her disdainfully, "Don't you recognize me by now."

"O-Of course Ritsu-sama!" She stammered, and led us through a wooden double door facing the mountain side. The corridor beyond was dismal, lit by torches, with faded blood stains on the floor. The maid looked about and sighed. "We haven't had the chance to give the castle a proper cleaning with all the attacks going on. The chemist's ward is nearby, so don't mind the blood."

"If there were was anything I had stopped minding by now…it's blood." I said as I held up my bloodstained hands. I had forgotten just whose blood I had on me now. She lead us through a few more distressingly gray hallways into a room that was so different from every place else I had seen, that I may have peed myself a lit…or a lot…no…just a little. Still embarrassing. We were now Mio's personal bathing suite.

Formed from a natural hot spring, the room was sizable, with the bath against the far wall. It was large enough to comfortably seat at least a dozen people, and a beautiful blue tiled marble finish. The room was lit by burning brass braziers in each of the corners, and the walls were painted with scenes of a beautiful countryside in the spring. The art detailed gorgeous flowers in bloom, green and leafy trees, and a tranquil village that I recognized as being Sakuragyfli. At one point this whole country could have been beautiful beyond words…but now it was frozen wasteland of death and despair.

The maid pointed towards a screen on the wall to my left, "You may change and leave your clothes there. I will clean them and return them to you afterwards…except for the sword that sits on your back defying all logic."

"Thank you very much." I bowed, and stepped over there to relieve myself of these pesky garments. Ritsu had already stripped down and was settling into the steaming water. Pickles the Cat looked uncomfortable as the humidity of the room caused his fur to twist and curl. I giggled at him as I got comfortably naked. Even without my clothes, I was still a blood splattered mess. Why was it that people going through blade barriers had to turn into a paste and splatter all over you? Putting that thought aside, I settled in next to Ricchan, right beside and array of soaps and shampoos. "Ahhhh, this is heavenly…"

"If only Mio were here…" Ritsu sighed, looking past me at all the different shampoos, trying to decide which one to use. I was trying my best not to stare at her.

"Wanting to see her in her full glory?" I smirked.

Ricchan looked at me. "What? No, I was going to dunk her head in the water and laugh as she gets really mad."

"No!" I gently bopped her on the head, "That is _not _how you make girls like you!"

She seemed both disappointed and surprised. "It isn't?"

"Of course it isn't! Where are you getting all of these frankly awful ideas!" I demanded to know.

Ricchan thought for a moment. "Mostly from my brother; he tells me to do most of this stuff."

"Did you ever think he may be trying to get you to do things that he would think are funny at your expense?" I was having a tough time dealing with this calmly. I had a wisdom score of 9 and here I was thinking Ricchan was being thick headed.

She reached passed me and grabbed two sparkly glass bottles of shampoo, "You could be right… Uh…hmm, should I use Rust Monster Raspberry, or this imported drow stuff made from virgin's blood?"

"Go with the raspberry." I deadpanned.

"Right. Thanks." She ended up using the last of it, making me have to use that drow stuff. At this point, using something made from blood to get different blood out of my hair didn't really affect me because I knew I should have expected it. It got worse when I subtly leaned in close enough to smell Ricchan's hair then. I wanted to by bury my face in it while rubbing my hands all over her naked, wet body and touch… "Why are you staring at me, Mugi? You look like you're going to eat me."

"Uh." I uh'd, trying to think quickly, "Uh..."

The doors opened, and in walked someone I had not seen before. It was a girl wearing a black kimono with a read trim, which had the design of a cherry blossom tree across her left breast. Her sandals clicked loudly, and I heard Ritsu stand up quickly.

"Well, I'll see you tonight Mugi-chan. Have fun on your watch duty." She quickly said, and went over to change into her clothes without even drying. That wasn't smart. Her clothes would probably freeze then. I kept my gaze focused on the newcomer, who was obscured heavily by the shadows cast by the braziers. Her brown hair hung down in front of her face as she kept her head low, making it so I couldn't see her face. At her side was a katana in a lavishly decorated wooden scabbard. I was intrigued. What kind of warrior was this? She looked so…_Japanese_. My observations were cut short as she stepped behind the screen, scaring Pickles the Cat off. From the burning braziers, I could see her silhouette perfectly. I watched her shadowy form undress, and saw that with her curves, she couldn't have been much older than me. After gently setting her katana down next to Sword-chan (who would no doubt be grateful to have a friend she could relate to), she stepped out into the open for me to see.

"Yui…chan?" I gasped. While someone reading this would have thought it was fairly obvious who had stepped in here, you have to understand what I was expecting from someone called _The Slaughter Queen_. I thought she'd be this warlord clad in black and spiky armor, with some giant scary sword. But no, here was this world's version of my close friend and guitarist.

She sat on the far side of the bath facing me, and spoke, "You're…Mugi, is that right?"

Gah! Her entire speech pattern was wrong! She sounded so down and gloomy, and hardly like Yui-chan at all. I smiled and nodded, "That's right, I just got here from…" What had been that place Mio told Himeko I was from? I couldn't just say that I dropped in from a different world, that would be silly, "…_Aye…Ai…._"

"You're going to say Aibureido, but I know that's not the truth." She cut me off, sounding just so pouty; I couldn't stand it! "Akiyama told me the truth about how you came to be here, how you are a competent warrior. She said that you are meeting people here that are mirrors of those from your own world?"

I nodded, still smiling. "That's right, there's even one from you. I hope this isn't too blunt, but she's one of my best friends! Maybe we can be friends too."

This version of Yui looked the other way, "No, but you are kind for offering such a thing. We're working together to defend the farmers and herders. Have you faced against a demon before?"

"Demon? I was told we were going to protect them from Mugitsu's general." I replied. This wasn't good bath time talk.

"Her general is a demon named Poshkt; a _vrock,_ to be specific." Her speech was just too correct and precise. I needed her happy, chirpy voice that I was so used to. "Don't worry though. I've dealt with such things like that."

"Stop talking like that!" I blurted out, sounding adorably flustered I presumed.

She looked up at me, looking a little confused. "Excuse me?"

"I…" It dawned on me that what I said could be taken as 'rude', "…It's just that the Yui-chan I know is so much more lively, happy, upbeat, and adorable. You're so uptight and proper, it's not right!"

Yui turned her gaze away from me again, "What you think is right doesn't apply here. You're from a different world with different cultures and customs. Even if there is another who shares my name and likeness, the chances of us being anything alike are almost nil. I'm sorry if me not being _adorable _upsets you, so please just take me as I am."

"B-but…" I stuttered, trying to think of how to answer that. Mio and Ritsu were pretty much the same and so was Ui. That was good enough point, "Your sister though! I know her too in my world, and she's pretty much the same here. Kind, caring, a good cook, trying to look out for you; is any of that right?"

Something in her face tensed, like I had struck home with that. Yui once again looked back over to me, "Yes…those qualities fit her, so what are you trying to say?"

"That I guess I think you're the same person as well, but you can't quite see it." I admitted, not caring how silly or creepy that sounded.

"You're saying that behind my disciplined exterior and refined self, there's a happy little girl waiting to surface?" She raised an eyebrow, her tone openly mocking. This was hurting me; it was hurting me more than I cared to think about. Looking at her, all I could see was the Yui I knew and loved back home, but everything she said was just so cold and mechanical.

I boldly nodded. "Yes, but not quite in that sense. I know it's wrong to judge without really knowing you, but I feel like I _do_ know you; if that makes sense. You just seem kind of, well, like you just need a friend."

"I have a friend already, her name is _Murasame_," Yui coldly replied.

"A sword can't be a friend! No offense, Sword-chan!" I retorted getting worked up now, "I mean, someone you can laugh with, tell your secrets to, trust, and just smile with."

"My line of work doesn't permit that. I'm constantly travelling from place to place; any emotional attachment will only lead to hurt for both of us." She looked the other way, and whispered just loud enough for me to hear, "Being away from Ui is already hard enough."

I stood up in the water, now comfortably free of blood, and stepped towards her. I knew just what she needed, because she had done the same to Azusa when she was upset. It was also worth noting that imported shampoo stuff wasn't all that bad, and had the scent of lavender. Anyway, she seemed a bit surprised my sudden act of moving towards her.

"What are you doing?" Yui tensed up.

"This." I answered and sat down right next to her, wrapping my arms around her and hugging her tight. She was definitely surprised by my sudden hug, squirmed just a bit, but didn't do more than just sit there all rigid. I couldn't explain it, but I knew this was the same Yui. Something was making her cold and distant, and I just needed to find some way to get her past that. Starting with a hug seemed like the safest route. I held her with her head just beneath my chin, but she didn't return any of the affection at all.

Instead, she said, "You're too friendly for your own good. You don't know me, and are making judgments based off of another who you have described as being nothing like me. Still, you call me by my first name like I'm a friend, and are being _way _too intimate right now."

I let go of her and sighed, because she was partly right. I was going purely on a gut instinct, and it was frankly dangerous in a world like this, "I'm sorry for acting like this. I know you must think it as being awfully forward and inappropriate. But we're going to be on the watch together with Juutilainen. Maybe this can be a chance for us to all get to know each other."

"Juutilainen, there's an interesting person. As deceitful as they come." Yui replied, still sounding as glum as ever.

"She's not evil is she? Because I wouldn't be surprised if she was, because she punched me in the face, and always looks like she doesn't like me."

She shook her head, "No, she fights for the right side, but there's more to her than meets the eye. I wonder how the people would react if they knew she were a witch?"

"Probably with little surprise; just like me." I replied, and then stood back up, stretching, "Well, I'm starting to get pruney, and Pickles the Cat is going to puke in my shoes if I stay here for much longer. It was nice meeting you Yui-chan, and I really hope we can be friends."

She didn't reply, and the maid returned with my clothes. I toweled off with the fluffy warm towels brought there, and had to say that this was almost as luxurious as my home sauna. Pickles the Cat contently licked up the water droplets running down my legs, as was his way. My pajamas were returned to me, without the robe of course, and I was happy to find that they were nice and toasty. Yui went to dress just as I finished, and Sword-chan took her faithful place. I picked up Pickles the Cat and let him reside in his normal spot, then left the bath to find someone like Juutilainen so I could get this watch thing out of the way.

It pretty much went without saying that I was kind of worried about this, and a little down that Mio or Ritsu wouldn't be with me. Yui was being all pouty, and Juutilainen would probably try and throw rocks at me as soon as I let my guard down. Speaking of which, when I exited the door and took a few steps down the hall, I felt something hit my shins and trip me, sending me flying forward.

"Oof!" I oof'd as I hit the ground, bashing up my elbows pretty badly. I rolled over, looked up and saw Juutilainen standing there and looking down at me with an evil grin on her face. I wasn't all that happy about this, "Hey, why did you trip me! That hurt!"

She gave me a light kick the ribs and shook her white hair, "You're not being aware enough of your surroundings. If you're going to be on the watch with us, you need to be focused and alert."

"Are you like this to everyone?" I asked as I stood back up, rubbing my aching elbows.

"Meow." Pickles the Cat said.

Juutilainen smiled and shrugged. "Not _everyone_. Mostly just you."

"What about Litvyak?" I asked.

"What about her?" Her eyes narrowed.

"She seemed really nice and polite, and you seem like the type to throw rocks at me." I answered, being fully blunt here, "Does she care that you do mean things to people; mainly me?"

Juutilainen punched my arm, scowling, "Why do you care? It's none of your business."

"But…" I decided it wasn't worth it, sighed, and followed her as she lead me back out to the courtyard, with Yui joining us shortly. Still feeling a bit down about this whole thing, I asked, "So what exactly is watch duty? I don't really know much of anything, sorry."

"We watch for Poshkt, and hope our scout's reports on his whereabouts are correct. When we see him, the three of us go in and finish him off for good, and hope he doesn't get away like he always does. He's probably going to bring his legion of undead too, so we have to prepare for that as well. Also, if you get into trouble, I'm not risking a hair on my head to save you, so be careful. Also, were going to be perched up above the mountain pass, so don't expect any tea or a picnic blanket."

By the time she had finished talking, we were past the gates, I was following her and just had to ask, "You said you were only this mean to me. How come? What did I do?"

She abruptly stopped, then turned around, "Crap, forgot my mechano-bow, be right back… You two go on ahead," then began jogging back to the keep.

Yui gently waved her arm, beckoning me to follow her down the trail. I had to pick up my pace to keep up with her, and held my arms close to my body in a measly attempt to keep warm. My damp hair made my shoulders excruciatingly cold now, but Yui didn't seem the least bit fettered by the climate. Walking next to her, I asked through my shivering, "Do you know why she's so mean to me?"

"You can't figure it out?" Yui didn't even look at me. I was having a tough time getting over just how different she was here.

"No, I thought I was quite a likable person."

"That's part of the problem. You're kind, get along with people, and play the piano. Then on top of all that, you've held your own twice in battles that would have left a normal person waiting in Odin's court."

I didn't know what she meant by that, but I pointed out, "Mio-chan did most of the work the second time."

"Nonetheless, your entire presence threatens her." Yui explained, then made a sharp turn towards the mountains, leading me up a narrow and steep trail up into a pass, "Although it is not all your fault, you're just an easy target for her. She's been here since I left two months ago, and the original objective we had hasn't been completed."

"What's that?" I asked.

"To eliminate Mugitsu, but she's only gotten stronger," she answered, climbing up the trail with both grace and ease. I, on the other hand, was slipping, tripping, and getting dirt all over me. It wasn't even icy, but I was having trouble just keeping on my feet. Yui was striding nearly a dozen meters ahead already, because everyone here seemed to be better at everything than me. I didn't feel all that bad about that though, because I knew I could totally beat them at _Super Smash Bros Brawl _back home. It took us a bit, but we managed to get to the top of this path, where it leveled out into a little rocky platform overlooking the valley beyond the mountains.

"Whoa." I whoa'd when I saw what was beyond. The clouds beyond were black and crackling with lightening, and the landscape was a churning sea of fog with decrepit mountains piercing through them. The mountains we were on were a little ways above all of it, and I could see the way down the sea of fog was found through a winding path.

"Our only real grace is that Mugitsu's forces are limited to this path and this path alone." I heard Juutilainen's voice say. I looked behind me and saw her hopping down from the mountain slopes. The pass we had just taken was just one little narrow way through the towering peaks, and offered a great view of the main path. On her back was a crossbow with metal plating across its wooden body. A case of bolts stuck out from the top, like it was somehow magazine fed like a kind of carbine.

"Is this where we're waiting?" I asked, still shivering.

She nodded and hopped once more down to us, "Yep. Make yourself comfortable." She then stepped over to a more flat rock face and leaned against it. Yui simply sat cross legged on the ground, but I was too cold to move myself into a more comfortable spot.

Trying to make idle conversation, I asked, "S-So, you two are part of some secret club? I'm part of a club in my world too. I play the piano in it."

"It's not a club," Juutilainen rolled her eyes, "it's an organization called _The Sentinels_. We're sent all over the world to deal with things that came in from other worlds. Like Mugitsu, who has so kindly made it so I haven't been able to see my friends in months."

"You have Litvyak, right?" I reminded her.

She just gave a heavy sigh, "Do you pay attention at all? She does the night patrols, so you'd better thank her when nothing kills you in your sleep."

Then something else she said dawned on me, prompting me to ask another question, "Wait, Mugitsu's from another world?"

"Apparently," Juutilainen shrugged.

"What do you mean _apparently_?" I raised an eyebrow.

Yui answered, "That's just what The Sentinels told us."

"Oh." I muttered and tried to find a place that was somehow warmer than anywhere else. I could handle all the violence and sadness here, but the cold was really starting to get to me. It was so bothersome that it didn't give me time to properly display the correct feelings towards all the really bad things going on. Nobody had even offered me a coat or a sweater, even though it was clear that I was obviously freezing my pajama pants off. The way they could see my breath, all the shivering, and how my lack of bra had pretty much turned this whole thing into an ecchi story. I peered over the ledge to the path some twenty meters below us, and saw a group of people down back at the village. They were pretty far away, and I could barely make them out. I looked back towards Juutilainen and asked her, "Who're they?"

"The militia, duh. They're there in case anything gets past us," she explained. "The basic plan is for me to shoot Poshkt down, and then you two will go and in and carve him up. Simple."

"Sounds like it." I nodded. I liked simple. I tend to die less when things were simple. We sat in silence for nearly an hour before I saw some other people walking down the path going towards Sakuragyfli. They were hard to see from up here, but they looked rather skinny with some pretty ragged armor and weapons. I looked back over."Who are those people? Herders?"

"Herders? What?" Juutilainen spared no effort to hide the disdain in her voice as she came over and looked down the mountainside. "Those aren't herders you idiot! Those look like undead warriors denied passage to Asgard and left here as slaves to the death witch Mugitsu. How did you get herders out of that!"  
>I pouted from her insults and explained, "Well, without proper warmth and sunlight, vegetation cannot grow. Therefore the livestock suffers as food becomes scarce, and the herders are also left with less to eat, making them skinnier. The strange attire I presume was makeshift armor against the many dangers that plagued the area."<p>

She smacked me upside the head. "Don't be stupid, everyone knows that ritual animal sacrifice provides good harvests, not the sun!"

"But plants use photosynthesis and temperature to-" I tried to say before Yui cut me off.

"There's no time for arguing." She said, and then looked up at Juutilainen, "Do you have a clear shot?"

"Of course I do!" She snapped, and took the mechanical looking crossbow off her back. I watched curiously as she cocked it like a gun, which drew the metal string back. The string was made of metal, and looked like the e-string of a guitar. Down the slopes the undead warriors were marching, twelve in all. I had a better view now, and could see their pale, gaunt faces with rotting skin stretched over bone. Over their decaying bodies were rusted, broken suits of armor, and in their hands were blade and spears of equal quality.

When those men the day before fired their crossbows at me, they had been rather quite, but Juutilainen's bow sounded like a shotgun going off right by my ear. The warrior leading the group below then blew into pieces, and the force of the bolt knocked the ones around it back a few paces. I was amazed, because she was only firing normal bolts, but they were firing with such force that whatever they hit would just explode. It took eleven more shots of that that distressingly loud weapon, and one reloading of that bolt magazine to finish the twelve of them off. By the end, I was rubbing my ears and wincing as they rung from the barrage of noise that thing made. Naturally I asked, "Where did you get something like that? I haven't seen anything like it in this world."

"My friend made it for me," she boasted with her normal malice temporarily gone. "She has one just like it. They fire bolts made from cold iron, which can pierce the skin of the strongest demon. Say, Hirasawa, isn't your sword there made from cold iron too?" She nodded, and Juutilainen continued, "What about you Tsumugi, is your sword made of cold iron?"

As if reading my thoughts, Sword-chan hovered right in front of me, on her side for all to see. I answered honestly, "I don't know…but I used her to shave in the bath, and it was probably the closest shave I ever had." I raised my right arm and pulled the sleeve back just a bit, exposing my arm pit and side boob. "See, you can feel if you want."

To my surprise, she _did_ feel my armpit, and then nodded, "Wow, that _is_ a close shave. I'll have to ask to borrow your blade some time…but don't say something like, 'only if you're nicer to me!', because I'm not in the mood for making deals!"

I chuckled, finding her behavior right now actually kind of cute, "Alright, alright, I'll lend Sword-chan out to you next time. If you think that's a close shave, you should feel how smooth I got my v-"

A horrible, ear piercing shriek from the distant mountains rang out across the peaks. I threw my hands over my ears and gritted my teeth at the noise, feeling my heart stop and my blood race. Those two things didn't even go together! Juutilainen flinched a bit, but Yui remained static. The white haired Sentinel reloaded another bolt clip and said, "Hirasawa, that's what we think it is, isn't it?"

Yui stood up, and took the Murasame in her hands, but kept it sheathed. "Yes. It has begun."

"W-What's begun?" I nervously asked, then looked below, "Oh…Oh…Uh, I don't think this was what the job description said it would be."

There were more of those undead guys, but this time there was a whole army marching up the pass. I looked over at our guys and couldn't count more than eight or so, but they looked to be mobilizing. My hands started shaking, and I was now short of breath. Juutilainen had made this sound like we would work together and take down one demon guys like friends. This…THIS was an army. Mugi was _not _a soldier. I felt Juutilainen's hand touch my shoulder. "We just have to slay Poshkt. The skeletons are controlled directly by him. Once he's down, the rest will die. I know this because we Sentinels are trained to deal with this sort of thing. Just lend us a hand with that sword and we'll get through this."

I nervously nodded, trying not to look too weak in front of her. That horrible shriek rang out again and I flinched like I had before. Flying over the army was the most horrible thing I had ever seen. It was almost like a man, with a skinny, purple tinted body maligned with cancerous growths and jagged, thorny spikes covering it. It had the head, wings, and talons of some horrible, demon vulture. I was shaking more than ever now at the sight of it. Juutilainen gripped my shoulder tighter and spoke again, "Don't worry. Vrocks are considered a type one demon, which is rather weak as far as demons are concerned. Stop shaking; we _can _do this."

Once again I gave a nod, and Sword-chan freed herself from my back once more, hovering near me in defense. Yui drew the Murasame, and I felt myself strangely admiring its beauty. From where I was standing, I could see my reflection in the blade, but it was warped as a drop of water fell on it. I looked up and saw that it had begun raining, even though it was more than cold enough for snow. Along with that, I could smell the scent of fallen leaves and cool autumn wind.

"On your mark," Yui said to Juutilainen, who nodded.

The white haired girl raised her mechano-bow to her shoulder and took aim. Her light purplish eye was cold and calculating as she adjusted her stance and prepared to fire. The thing fired like a gunshot again, with the sudden noise still surprising me even if I was prepared for it this time. After just the slightest pause, the demon's steady flight was interrupted as its wing snapped back at a gruesomely painful angle. It flew erratically, screaming and howling from pain. She fired again and nailed it straight in the body, sending it tumbling to the ground among its undead allies. They kept marching, and I asked, "Is…is it dead?"

"Nope," Juutilainen curtly replied, keeping her aim steady even if the demon was obscured from our vision now. "Monsters like it can regenerate at a frighteningly fast rate. My bolts aren't enough to bring it down for good. You two have to take care of it."

"Obliged," Yui said, and stepped forward, hopping off our ledge. I gasped at her act, and looked over the edge to make sure she was alright. She was more than alright though; she was gracefully leaping from rock to rock and from footing to footing with elegance that made me jealous. After effortlessly scaling the entire rocky slope, she landed on both feet on the path below, sword ready.

"Down you go!" Juutilainen said from behind me, and I felt her booted foot connect with my hindquarters. I instantly lost my footing.

"_Nooooo!_" I cried as I tumbled head over heels downward, feeling my body connect with full force against the rock, dirt, and bits of shrub as I made my descent. "Ow! Oof! Ouch! Owie! Ack! Onomatopoeia for pain!"

I landed on my shoulder right by where Yui had also landed. Unlike her, I was now covered in bruises, cuts, scrapes, and all sorts of other minor ouchies. My clothes somehow kept intact, with only one little tear on the cuffs of my pants.

"Meow," Pickles the Cat said as he landed on my chest, looking like he was enjoying seeing me like this. From down below, I got a pretty good view of just how many undead guys we were facing. It looked like one solid wall of enemies advancing about 15 meters away. Yui took center stage in the road, held the Murasame up, and swung it gracefully through the air, even if nothing was near her yet. However, the undead leading the march fell into pieces, and the rain fell harder. If she could do that, this was going to be easy.

The demon Poshkt screeched again and provoked this army into a full charge at us. I heard an inhuman, raspy voice scream from his direction, "_BRING ME THEIR BODIES, A FEAST SHALL BE HAD!"_

For being dead, these things could move fast, and I found myself quickly scrambling backwards by using my hands and kicking my feet, despite my battered body. Yui swung again, and more fell around her, but they were already past her and going after me. I began panicking then, trying to look for some way out of this situation. Their sword looked quite sharp as they reached spitting distance, and I raised my arm in some kind of pathetic attempt at defense…or maybe I just shield my vision from seeing them swing their swords and possibly end my life. No swing came though, and I lowered my arms enough to see Sword-chan drop four of them with one good swing. I smiled and laughed in relief, "Oh, thank goodness you came in time!"

Juutilainen's mechano-bow boomed again, and I was going to have a few words with her after this about rudely kicking unprepared blondes off the sides of mountains. I got to my feet as Sword-chan hacked down another half dozen like they were made of tissue paper. Everything seemed so slow then, with the undead throwing themselves at me, and my sword stopping them before they could quite make it. I was terrified, and there were so many of them coming towards me…but it was strangely exciting. Yui had an entire clear circle around her and the dead, a good five meters wide. With each graceful swing of the blade, more and more fell apart before they could even get close to her. The rain was pouring harder, and my t-shirt was a light gray. Despite all my fear, I knew I had a job to do, and I found myself actually yelling out, "Come on, let's get to that leader guy!"

"Meow!" Pickles the Cat shouted his battle cry as I scooped him up into my arms. I held him close as Sword-chan cut us a path to Yui and _12 Days Of Rain _by _October Tide _played because it was epic battle music. It only took a few seconds for me to get next to her, and for a moment, things didn't seem _too _bad, and possibly were in control.

Poshkt screamed again, and emerged in front of us, pushing past his legion of followers to get to us. Up close, he was a lot scarier and imposing than he was from up on the ledge. Standing three meters tall, he kept his distance and snarled, "_My mistress wanted you kept alive...Tsssmugi…"_

Oh no…Mugitsu knew my name. This changed everything!

"…_but do not let that make you think you will be spared from the misery I am more than capable of bringing upon your wretched life!_" He finished, and then shrieked once more; but I was used to it by now.

I looked down at Pickles the Cat in my arms (who was not liking the rain), and pouted, "We can't just go through one day here without making mortal enemies, can we?"

"Meow," Pickles the Cat shrugged. I looked back up and saw that there were now two Poshkts, except the second one in front him was a bit smaller, with darker feathers on its wings.

The demon cackled and pointed towards us, "_Kill the Sentinel. Bring me the one with the animal alive!_"

Apparently when I wasn't looking, he had summoned up a friend somehow. That wasn't fair, I couldn't summon up Mio to cast blade barrier and mince everything with steel. Yui glanced at me quickly before swinging her blade at the newcomer and shouted, "Keep on your guard."

"Right!" I held up Pickles the Cat like a weapon, feeling silly for a moment. Murasame didn't slice the new vrock in half, but sent it staggering back howling and hissing. There was quite the cut across its skinny body. The rain kept up, and Sword-chan was too busy dealing with the dead to help out against the demon. Poshkt had taken flight again, but I already heard Juutilainen firing at him once more. I just stood next to Yui, unsure what to do as she swung at the demon repeatedly. Another dozen undead fell to her attack with another cut appearing on the vrock, from which black blood sprayed. The monstrosity screamed and made a dash at us. The thing was nearly twice our height, and I nearly passed out from fear when it got so close.

I shuffled backwards out of the way, with Sword-chan keeping the dead off of me. Yui raised her blade and used it to block its claws. The vrock grabbed onto her sword, even if it was cutting into his hands, and tried to wrestle it away from her. While it did that, its razor sharp beak snapped at her continuously, even once managing to clip her just at the color bone. Her face was a mask of strain as the demon kept pushing her back towards me. I tried to step away from them, but it pushed on even harder, making me have to scramble madly out of the way. It was more graceful than it looked, and managed to actually kick me to the ground. I wasn't able to scream as the wind was knocked out of me. I hit the mud below, and realized that its talon had left three neat little bleeding indents in my chest. All light wounds.

Now I was scared. This was _bad_. Yui was hard pressed against this thing, locked in a current stalemate, but there was no telling how long she was going to last. I winced in pain, and found getting up to be difficult. More undead fell around me from my metal ally, who I tried to verbally command. No use; I couldn't speak from the force of the demon's kick. Panic was setting in hard now, with tears running down my face hidden by the rain. However, like she had read my thoughts, Sword-chan flew on over and in the most anti-climatic way possible, decapitated the demon. Yui pushed its lifeless body away and pulled me to my feet. Sword-chan gave us some breathing room, and the Sakuragyfli militia had joined the fight. The dead were thinner now, and we were pushing them back, but there was no sign of their leader anymore. I saw the bleeding wound just below Yui's neck and had to ask, "Are you going to be okay."

She nodded, giving a gentle smile, "Yes, thanks for asking. Come on, let's finish this."

"Right." My voice was a squeak from everything that had happened to me that day. She took off down the path, slicing through undead like they were nothing. I had gotten the feeling these things were here just to take up space and not much else.

Yui stopped and pointed up towards the slope we had come down. I gasped as I saw Poshkt on Juutilainen, going at her in this dancing frenzy of claws, beak, and talons. Somehow that little Finnish girl was dodging _all _of it, which was simply incredible to watch. It was like she knew what each of it attacks would be, and dodged them accordingly through side steps, ducks, leaps, and rolls around him. It was like watching the fights from a _Star Wars _prequel, except without the flat characters and nigh constant plot holes. The two of them stopped fighting, and then Poshkt leapt up and flew down at Yui.

She met his charge with a swing of her blade, knocking him back ever so slightly. From the corner of my eye, I saw Juutilainen sliding down the slope to join us for some reason. Poshkt wasn't being cut open like his lesser brethren had, and laughed at her attack. He stopped laughing and I began when Sword-chan so kindly removed him of his left wing.

That was how I roll. You make fun of my friends- you lose a wing. He staggered back and shrieked for the umpteenth time, swatting Sword-chan away by the flat of the blade, and effectively guarding himself. Yui swung again, and black blood splattered the ground around him as she sliced a vital point somewhere on his body. The demon hollered and whined, trying to get away on all fours down the mountain pass. I smiled because he was retreating, which meant we won. More undead were arriving though, so we needed to take this guy out quick.

"After him!" Juutilainen shouted like she was leading the charge or something. Yui was right after him, followed by Sword-chan, followed by me, followed by Pickles the Cat. It turned out that Yui could move and slash at the same time, which was probably because using that special attack thing took concentration or something; I don't know. The heightened undead presence was making this difficult as they threw their selves at us, and gave Sword-chan plenty of work to do. Poshkt turned around, still being noisy about his missing wing, and abruptly stopped, claws ready to take on Yui in one final stand. She wouldn't be alone of course, because we were right behind her.

But that was something he anticipated, because right as she got close, the undead began trying to get between me and her. I was able to watch her swing once, and the demon tried to leap up to avoid the slash, but the talons that served as feet were promptly removed. Following that, the legion of dead began swarming around us in greater numbers with more suicidal zeal. Sword-chan kept me safe, that hadn't changed, but I was having trouble telling what was going on anymore. The heavy rain. All the enemies around me. All the screaming from Poshkt mingled with the militia's battle cries to make a storm of noise down the mountainside. Sword-chan kept up her defense, but I was momentarily stuck in place, completely surrounded for the time being.

This kept up for a few agonizing minutes, where I stood helpless in the middle of a battle field. From behind me, I saw the militia pushing them back, and the horde parted just enough for me to see the battle between Poshkt and Yui.

"_YUI!_" I screamed when I saw her crumpled form a few meters away from Poshkt's. Standing over her was another newcomer to the fight: a woman with long, thick black hair, darker than the darkest night, and eyes as blue as well…mine. Her attire was like a plate armor bikini, but designed to look evil and sinister; with black plated boots that went up to her thighs. In her hand was a shining silver sword with blood dripping off the edge; Yui's blood. She smiled at me and waved before turning around and disappearing into a fog that had seemingly just appeared with her.

The undead were scattered into small, isolated groups now, and the path to Yui was clear. Poshtk wasn't dead yet, and was using his wicked claws to drag himself towards my fallen friend. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her struggling to reach for her fallen sword from her prone position. She was still alive, and I could get her to Mio for healing. Poshkt was close though, so I had to be fast about this.

I slid out of my slippers, because I ran faster barefoot, and made my charge of faith towards her. She was only about 15 meters away, but to me, it looked like I had to run a mile to get to her. The rain had left the rock beneath my feet slippery, and I had to sprint on my heels to avoid slipping. I gritted my teeth against the pain of sprinting with all my bruises and scrapes from Juutilainen so kindly sending me down that slope. I was half way to Yui when an explosion of pain interrupted my sprint, sending me stumbling forward, barely stopping myself from falling on my face. I screamed out from the sudden pain, and used my hand to feel my back and find out what had happened, while my other was used to keep me from falling onto the ground. Something metal was imbedded into my back, like a knife or something. I had seen some undead with bows and arrows. Maybe they finally decided to use them, and I was just the unlucky one here.

Yui was still in trouble, so I blinked through the tears and began pretty much shuffling myself over to her, trying desperately not to fall over from the pain. I felt blood running down my back, and the stinging sensation was nearly overwhelming. Just before I made it to her, my knees gave out, and I cried out again from how bad it hurt. I reached around and tried to pull whatever was stuck in my back out, but just touching the cold metal surface of it was enough to send more pain flaring up. Giving up for the time being, and needing to get to Yui and get her to safety, I took a deep breath and pushed myself as much as I could…

But I was a moment too late. Poshkt had dragged himself close to her, and would be able to rend her to pieces in seconds if I didn't do something now. Sword-chan was too busy keeping the undead away from us, so, thinking quickly, I picked up the fallen Murasame with both hands.

"Stay away from her!" I screamed, desperately swinging the katana at him, hardly even able to stand. Nothing happened, because the blade apparently didn't function in my hands the same way. I stepped towards her, swinging awkwardly since my only practice with a katana had come from the game _Red Steel_ for the Wii. It did not apply here in the slightest. I had misjudged his reach, and he swatted me away with the back of his clawed hand. It hit me like a sack of bricks, sending me stumbling back, falling to my knees.

"_Filthy humansss, you and the resst of your precious dwelling will suffer for what you have done to me thiss day!_" Poshkt hissed and snarled at me, "_You two will be the firssst to die!_"

"No!" Was my clever retort, even though I wasn't really sure how I was going to get out of this with both of us intact. However, a miracle in the form of a floating sword came, as Sword-chan flew in for an overhead cleave against the demon. He grasped the blade before it could come down on him, with it slowly cutting into his clawed hands. This was my one chance.

Despite all my pain, all my fatigue, I stood up and made one more dash at him with the Murasame in hand. With his hands tied up with Sword-chan, I was able to throw myself onto his purple skeletal form. He shrieked and hollored, with his beak snapping up at me. With reflexes I didn't know I had, I stabbed downward with Yui's sword, the blade going through his mouth. Black blood splattered all against me from that sharpened beak, but it was enough to stop him from biting my head off. Screaming with rage I had never felt before, I twisted the blade around, sending more blood spraying all against me. He thrashed, gargled and twisted, with strange powder being released from all over his body, before he finally died seconds later. When he stopped moving, I collapsed over on my side, now almost too tired to move, and felt a itchy burning sensation flare up all over my body. The burning heightened and I felt like I was on fire. My vision blurred, and I crawled towards Yui, using the last reserves of my strength to get her out of this.

I don't know how I did it, but I managed to pick her up in my arms, stand up, and start walking back, as all the undead around me finally were given the rest the deserved. My body was on auto-pilot, and the pain was so intense, all I could do was whimper…but I had done my job. Ahead of me, people were rushing my way, cheering, smiling, and I could have sworn I heard my very own voice call out, "Get Princess Akiyama! She's been spore'd. Only magical healing can save her now!"

That was the last thing I remembered before falling to my knees and blacking out.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Author's Notes (and behind the scenes!)- **__Fast paced intense combat, don't worry, this isn't going to become a regular thing. My aspiration is to become a fantasy novelist, and I'm finding this story to be great practice for it. I don't know how many of you read my other story, 'Falling Stars', but this whole thing is my attempt to one up it. It's been a year since that story was finished, and all my accumulated practice since then is going into this. A warning, the rating is probably going to shift to M with the introduction of love scenes, and more violent conflict much later on. And I also hope that this story doesn't have to get put into the crossover section since nearly every character that's not a K-On! One will be from another anime. Not to mention all the stuff from Dungeons and Dragons that shows up in here; like the vrocks this chapter._

_It's funny for me, the original outline of this story only spanned about 8 chapters, and I had no idea just how long it would end up being. So, sorry if the constant 10k word chapters are a bit overwhelming. _

A Thank you to _Mister Yada_ for beta-reading this._  
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	5. Rest Recovery And Reconcile

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 5**

**REST AND RECOVERY AND RECONCILE**

My dreams, oh boy, my dreams… I must have been out for awhile, because I dreamed about just about everything. Me doing normal stuff with my real friends from my normal world, like eating snacks or just hanging around at the park. Sometimes I'd dream about our live shows again, but in them I'd be the one singing, and I wouldn't know any of the words, and I would forget how to play any of the songs. That was a normal thing for a musician to dream about, since it was just the subconscious manifestation of anxiety. Then I had another dream where the Mio of this world was in my world, and I was showing her around. She would be amazed, commenting on everything, thanking me so much for showing her it all. I felt pretty great in that one.

Those were the good dreams, and I had some rather frightening ones thrown in there. There was one where I dreamed I wasn't able to make it to Yui in time, and another where everyone was in danger and Sword-chan wasn't working anymore. The most notable was the one where I dreamed that I was watching two girls talking to each other. One looked like the girl who had hurt Yui during the battle, but she was wearing shiny, golden armor this time around; no less revealing though. I think she was supposed to be Mugitsu. Standing across from her, in a beautiful field of white and red flowers, was another dressed the same. She looked pretty much exactly like me, and was the first to speak.

"_It does not have to be this way!_" She sounded like me too.

The one I thought to be Mugitsu shook her head, her face grim and pale, "_It does dear sister, it really does. Tell the others about my decision, paint it to look as sinister and selfish as you want, but know I am doing the Einherjar a favor by this._"

"_This undermines everything we stand for!_" My lookalike shouted, and drew a shining spear with a shield to match, "_I'm sorry sister…but my duty comes first..._"

Mugitsu drew that same shining silver sword I had seen her use during the battle. She held it with both hands, looking like she was taking no pleasure in what she was about to do.

That was when the dream ended, and I was left in a state of semi-consciousness. Something felt good, and it felt good everywhere. It felt good in a way that would leave my panties wet, and it was what prompted me to wake. I sat up abruptly, finding myself in lavish bed with the finest silk blankets around me. I was in a beautiful looking bedroom, with gilded furniture, poofy pillows, and a bass cello in the corner. It was fit for a queen, or more like a princess in this case.

"Mugi-chan!" I heard Mio's voice gasp, "Oh thank the Aesir, you're awake!"

She hugged me tight, which was a bit awkward because I was completely naked. I hugged her back, not quite sure where I was or what was going on. The last thing I remembered was carrying Yui through the rain, and being on fire. Since I wasn't covered in horrible burns, the fire thing had probably been my imagination, but I did remember having something sharp in my back. Using one arm to hug Mio, I used the other to feel where that object had pierced me, and felt a slight indent where a scar was. My head was a bit fuzzy, so I asked the most natural question, "What…what happened?"

Mio let go of me, tears flowing down her face, "It was horrible! Nobody told me you had gone to participate in the battle, so I was so late in coming to heal you. There was so m-much blood and, I…I…"

"You don't have to say the rest." I gently said, giving her a warm smile.

"I thought you were going to die!" She cried out, holding back from simply breaking out into a complete sobbing fit, "You had so many broken bones, that knife in your back, cuts everywhere, and not to mention the spores. Oh Mugi, why did you volunteer yourself to fight such a horrible enemy."

Volunteer myself? _Volunteer myself! _Did she know that Ritsu had signed me up, and I had obliged because she had made it sound like I was just going to be watching some stupid pass? Not sure about how much she knew, I replied, "I'm sorry to have scared you. Ricchan had signed me up for the watch, and I didn't know it was going to be a major battle. I wouldn't have risked my life like that had I known better."

She sniffled, and had a look of confusion about her, "Watch? She said you volunteered to help Juutilainen and Hirasawa with their Sentinel work. The watch just walks patrols around the village to make sure there aren't any trouble makers."

"That's not true though!" I yelled, "That's not what happened at all! She woke me up, showed me to a bath, then said I was going to help Juutilainen and Yui-chan with some really easy stuff. Next thing I know, I'm surrounded by the legions of the dead!" My hands were shaking a bit, and I felt my heart racing. What was this feeling? It felt like something I almost never felt before… it felt like _anger_. My temper flaring, I shouted again, "She…She used me! Ricchan knew that I had Sword-chan and used me to fight a battle!"

"Mugi-chan…" Mio softly spoke, taking my hand in hers, "…She's been really worried about you the whole time you were asleep. I don't think she meant for this to happen. Please don't be angry."

"How long was I asleep!" My voice came out as harsh and demanding. What was wrong with me?

Mio flinched back at my sudden outburst, "Ten days. My healing magic left you pretty much comatose."

"…And she was at your side for most of that." I heard someone say, then the doors close. They had sounded like me, _exactly_ like me. Across the room, standing there was a girl wearing a white gown with a red cross on it. She had black hair that was almost like Mio's, but not quite as neatly cut, and the same eyes. With a warm smile, she greeted me, "Glad to see you awake Tsumugi. My name is Yuuko, I'm Sakuragyfli's pharmacist, medic, and chemist. I did everything that Onee-san's magic could not."

Ten days though? I had been out for ten full days? I didn't even want to think about how all my normal bodily functions were taken care of during that. Probably magic, it was best to assume it all magic. This meant that I had been here for two weeks nearly, and I couldn't help but wonder if I was missing from my world. That was a scary thought, because they would search and search but never find me.

"Yuuko's my cousin, but not of full royal blood." Mio explained right away, then gasped, "Oh! You're indecent, hold on!" She turned around and stepped over to an armoire, opened a drawer, and gathered something from it. It was my bath robe, "I had meant to return this to you, but didn't have the chance!"

"It's fine." I assured her, and gladly accepted it. I don't think it had been washed, because it smelled distinctly of Mio. That was something I was okay with.

Yuuko chuckled, "Don't worry, if seeing you naked didn't bother me during those ten days, it's not going to now. There are some people who wanted to see you when you were awake, shall I fetch them?"

"In time," Mio answered for me, "Let her have some time to get her bearings together."

"Alright, you know where to find me if you need me again." Yuuko replied, then stepped out of the room.

Speaking of which, I asked, "Where am I anyway?"

"My room. I've been using the guest quarters." She answered.

"Oh, why thank you. That was very kind of you, and much appreciated."

Mio shook her head, "Oh no, I should be thanking _you_. I don't know if you know, but you did us such a major service before you passed out. That demon had been such a problem for so long, and you slew him after being here for only two and a half days! That's incredible!"

I modestly smiled and shook my head, "Yui-chan did the most of the work to be honest, and it was Sword-chan left me the opening to do what I had to do. Don't thank me, because anyone could have done the same thing."

"But you were so brave!" Mio went on, "Hirasawa told us of how you ran through all of Poshkt's minions to get to her. Then we learn that you did it all after one of them threw a knife in your back, and you had several broken bones! Face it Mugi, you were the hero of the day."

I realized the broken bones were probably from the fall. The one that Juutilainen had so eagerly aided in causing. It was strange, back home I was hardly ever praised, because so much was expected from me. Now here I was being hailed as a hero, but something just felt wrong here. I couldn't place my finger on it, but I felt like I had some how made things _worse _ for everyone by killing Poshkt. Maybe it had something to do with Mugitsu appearing at the end of the fight, or maybe because I made everyone worry about me. Either way, I felt no sense of victory here. Mio saw my pouting face and placed had on my shoulder, playfully shaking me a bit, "Hey, cheer up! I know you went through a lot, but now you have a little bit of time to breathe and relax. And from now on, I'll make sure that Ritsu doesn't ever get you into a mess like that again. Trust me, her and I are going to have a few words."

"Go easy on her." I said, although I wasn't sure why. It was because of her that I had nearly been killed, why did she deserve my kindness? I immediately felt awful for even thinking that. Something didn't make sense, I felt so down, and it usually took a lot more to get me to feel this way. More than getting swindled into a battle that ended in me feeling more pain than I had ever felt before.

Mio sighed, "You're too nice for your own good… Which is partly why I feel so bad about you going into that battle. Nothing about you makes me think 'warrior', and I think you'd be better suited as a noble with a nice husband. How much fighting experience did you have in your world."

"None." I answered, feeling that my wiffle bat battles with Pickles The Cat were hardly worth mentioning. He won every single time.

Her eyebrows perked up, "You mean… You have never fought anything prior to being here?"

"Nope."

She took a deep breath and looked the other way, "And yet you did what none of us could do, even if you're aided greatly by your sword. It makes me feel worse for dragging you into any of this. This isn't your fight."

I gave her a warm smile, "No, don't feel bad, I'm helping because I want to help. I don't know how I really feel about that last battle though… Hm, I feel like I've been in bed too long. I think it may be time to go and meet the others."

"Thank you again." She said, hugging me once more, and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. I was really hoping that she did the same thing to Ritsu on occasion, because I was in no mood to steal her girl. Even if she did sign me up for a battle that nearly killed me. That was just not something good people did. "Unfortunately, we couldn't save your clothes. I'm sorry, but with all the rips, blood stains and water damage, they were too far gone."

"Does that mean you found something my size that'll combat that painfully cold weather here?" My eyes lit up, since I was getting sick of being cold all the time.

"Not quite…" She stood up, and went back over to that dresser, "Ta-da!"

I kept up a fake smile when I saw what she had there, "Oh…you had someone tailor an exact replica of my pajamas. Thank you."

"No need to thank me, Ritsu was the one who did the tailoring." Mio happily informed me. Apparently people here didn't get that I. Did. Not. Like. The. Cold. It was a nice gesture though, and I wasn't going to pour cold water on it by refusing. Luckily, my panties survived the battle, and were there with the rest of my garments. Mio politely looked away as I dressed again, slipped on my bathrobe, and felt Sword-chan take her faithful place again. I puffed out my chest, hands at my side, boldly smiling. Every hero needed a suit of armor, and this was mine.

We stepped out of the room into another one of the castle's dingy hallways of soulless, gray masonry. I was hardly able to take two steps before I felt someone throw their self at me. They hugged me tight, lifting me up just a bit, and swinging me back and forth.

It was Ritsu, "I'm sorry ! I didn't mean to get you hurt like that I thought the battle would be safe and that you would be fine because you and Juutilainen and Hirasawa and Pickles The Cat were all really good fighters and I didn't know there would be an undead army and I feel really bad and even picked flowers but I forgot where I put them so I couldn't leave them at your bed side but that doesn't matter because your safe and please don't be mad at me!"

Jeez, she was like Yahtzee giving a video game review. Still, I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm, and could tell she really did feel bad about this all. Simply unable to hold a grudge, I waited for her to put me down and said, "I'm sorry for making your worry. I'm okay though, but please find out what you're signing me up for before you go about enlisting me. See, I'm all for helping out and stuff, but I would like some prior knowledge. Also, please understand that I'm not some kind of warrior. Battles aren't my thing. I'm a lover, not a fighter."

"R-right, won't happen again." She blushed, "Umm, no hard feelings?"

I put a hand on her shoulder and smiled, "No hard feelings."

Mio shook her head and gave a light hearted sigh, "This woman is a saint."

The three of us walked down those dismal corridors together, with Ritsu pretty much skipping, going on about how worried she was about me. I smiled, and felt touched. I had only been here a very short time, and the two of them were treating me like they had known me for years now. Ritsu also brought up the subject of music, but Mio told her that this really wasn't the time yet. She was sort of right, and I didn't really feel like playing the piano in a band right now. I felt like trying to find out just why I was here in the first place. That was my goal first and foremost now. If there was something I was supposed to do, it would be best for me to find out what it was and get it done. Despite how much I found myself enthralled by this fantasy wonderland, I knew I would have to go home some time. Something about going home seemed kind of, well, boring to be honest. One thing I really liked about Sakuragyfli was the lack of structured routine for once. At home, it was wake up, go to school, come home; with only slight variation. Besides the violence, I kind of wanted to stay here for awhile and see what this world had to offer.

When we stepped into the courtyard, still being used as a base by the militia, all the men and women charged in defending the town greeted us with a round of applause. I saw that it was sunset out, which was a bit disappointing, and probably meant that my entire sleep schedule was ruined now. Even in another world I couldn't avoid what amounted to jetlag while travelling. I'll admit I was a bit taken back by the applause, and was now starting to feel a little more like a hero. The applauses were mixed with shouts of congratulations, thank you's, and cheers. Apparently killing the general of the enemy army boosted the morale of your own. Who would have guessed?

I flinched when I felt someone forcefully pat me on the back, and turned to see Juutilainen standing beside the door. She gave me a sly smile and thumbs up, and next to her was Litvyak, who gave me a polite smile and wave. Ritsu forcefully dragged me by the wrist, dragging me through the courtyard. She had to shove past people, shouting, "Come on, make way, give the lady here some room to breathe!"

"Was that really needed?" I asked, feeling bad for all those people who just wanted to see me. We were just out side the gates now, and I was already shivering from the cold.

Ritsu nodded, "Yeah, we don't want them holding you up. Tonight, we're going to party till dawn to celebrate our hero."

I looked over at Mio, who nodded, "That's right, at the tavern. Ui baked a cake and everything."

"B-baked a c-c-c-cake?" My eyes were watering from happiness. It was just like home again, sort of, but the very notion of it is what touched me the most. I didn't feel right taking so much of the glory, but I would definitely try to have a great time, "Thanks you two, this really means a lot."

"No thanks needed, you and Hirasawa really did a lot for us." Mio assured me, but didn't offer me a jacket or coat or anything.

I was going to say something to her, but I noticed someone walking up the road towards us. He had been in the back of my mind the whole time, but I had forgotten to ask Mio about him. Marching towards me was Pickles The Cat, and not a scratch on him. Unable to contain myself, I ran towards him (bare foot now), laughing and swooped him up into my arms. "Oh Pickles The Cat, you're safe!"

"Meow."

"You were at my side for three days straight?"

"Meow."

"Aww, that's so sweet of you."

"Meow."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing ever comes between us again. I promise."

Back up the road, just within my earshot, I heard Ritsu ask, "Does…does she actually understand what the cat is saying?"

"I'm…not sure…" Mio answered.

With Pickles The Cat comfortable in his rightful place in my shirt (head popping out of the collar of course) we strode back into town. More people greeted us with applause and thank you's, to all of which I bowed politely. People had family members who tended to their livestock in those mountains, and were a prime target for Poshkt. I had thought my actions during that battle to be sporadic and whimsical, but it was good to see I made some sort of a difference. My only fear now was that people were going to start coming to be with more problems. Like, '_Oh Mugi, there's a giant dragon in my back yard you need to kill!_" or, '_An ancient evil has arisen and you're the only hope we have!_' Perhaps even, '_I need you to go and get me five diamond encrusted boar livers and I'll reward you with 2 silver pieces and an item of your choosing!_'. I really, REALLY, did not want become like the protagonist of a Bioware game.

The inn was a bit more empty than I thought it would be, with only a couple few around. Those two white haired Sentinels had somehow beat us here, and Litvyak was playing a pleasant tune on the piano. It was a light overture that sounded like an old timey version of the song _Moonlight Equilibrium_; but with less death. All in all, it was quite nice. Ui was the first to greet me, from behind the bar, "Mugi-chan, so good to see you're alright."

"Why thank you Ui." I replied, and took a seat at the bar, "Is your sister alright? Nobody has told me so far, and I'm awfully worried about her."

To my relief, she smiled, "Onee-chan is fine, thanks to you. She's in the kitchen helping with the finishing touches for the cake. As soon as we heard that you were starting to stir and talk in your sleep, we decided to bake a cake for when you woke up!"

"You didn't have to do that." My modesty kicked in, although I was quite excited for this. I'm sure all my anxiety from when I woke up would disappear with some sweets. From the corner of my eye, I saw Juutilainen sit next to me.

"Mead," She said to Ui, then eyed me for a second, "and tea for the lady here, what ever you have left."

"Certainly." Ui smiled, and served us our drinks. For me, it was a some hot tea in a clay mug with tea sweetened by honey alone. The taste was extremely exotic, and I really couldn't relate it to anything except the smell of good shampoo. I hoped there wasn't any virgin blood in this. It made me wonder whether or not this was imported or just left over, since the weather didn't really allow for tea leaves to grow. Juutilainen had herself a full bottle of booze there, with a shot glass for it.

She turned to me after finishing her first glass, "Look, Tsumugi, I kind of want to say sorry for pushing you down that hill. It was fun to watch you fall, but I felt a little bad after I learned that you broke a few bones from that."

"It's okay…" I sighed, hoping she was really being sincere, "…but let's be honest here Juutilainen, I'm reluctant to help out if you're just going to bully me. It's really not an okay thing to do."

The white haired girl blushed, keeping her gaze on the to surface of the bar in front of us, "You're right, I was too harsh." She poured herself another drink and took a sip, "I'm frustrated though, being here, no results against Mugitsu, unable to see my old friends anymore. See, Sanya and I are part of a team, and we can't mount any sort of offensive with just the three of us. I've known this for awhile, and I got mad when I saw people start talking about hope when you arrived. I…I guess they were right though."

I put an arm around her shoulder and drew her close, which she didn't really object to, and replied, "Juutilainen, I'm not some messiah sent here to save you all. I just did what I thought was right, and have been extraordinarily lucky thus far."

"Please, just call me Eila." She insisted. I mentally sighed in relief because what was _so_ much easier than typing her last name every time. "Anyway, like it or not, you're kind of a beacon of light to some people now. You come riding in, look like a valkyrie, with tales of slaying giants. Then just a couple days later, you personally kill Mugitsu's general. How do you expect people to react to that?"

"I don't know." I admitted.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

I told her the modest truth, "None of this was my intention, is what I'm trying to say. All those bad things I killed, it was to either protect myself or my friends. It doesn't feel right getting the praise for something anyone could have done. I think what we should be celebrating is the fact that Poshkt is gone, and that people are safe. Not me though, I shouldn't be the focus of this. I'm not anything special, really."

Eila smacked me upside the head, "Just learn to enjoy things! Who cares if someone else could have picked up the Murasame and jammed it into a Vrock's beak? You were the one who was brave enough to risk your life to and do it!"

"B-but…" I tried to say.

"No buts! Here, have a drink, shut up, and enjoy the moment!"

I declined the alcoholic drink, not wanting to recreate and drunken shenanigans from my younger years. Plus, I needed to be the designated driver for Pickles The Cat, and had already confiscated his keys for the night. Watching the people in the Moose Consensual Debauchery made me feel a bit better, because everyone was in high spirits. People were talking, laughing, drinking, and just enjoying themselves. Eila sat there watching Sanya play, dreamily sighing every now and then. I knew that sigh. It was the sigh Ritsu sigh'd when she talked about Mio. Did I sense some unspoken romance here? I was almost tempted to ask, but I realized that Eila seemed like the type to hit me in the face for bringing it up. Mio and Ritsu were sitting together, talking and laughing as well, which was a good sign. Everything was as good as good could be.

"Mugi-chan." Ui's pleasant voice broke me out of my thoughts. She was standing next to Yui, who had her black and red kimono. In Ui's hands was a katana, a different one from the Murasame. She held it out to me, "Onee-chan went on and on about how you threw yourself into mortal danger to rescue her, and we both agreed you deserved some sort of reward for it. So, we wanted you to have this."

"Oh, I couldn't!" I gasped at the magnificent gift, "Cake is just fine, I wouldn't feel right accepting something so wonderful."

Yui shook her head and smiled, "Take it Mugi-chan, you earned it."

That sounded a lot more like the Yui I knew. Ui pretty much shoved the katana into my hands, and I held onto the wooden sheath with both hands. The sheath was colored deep blue, with kanji done in wood burnings into it. I read it to be _Masamune_, the sister sword of the Murasame. It was hard for my eyes not to water from how wonderful this gesture was. "Thank you two so much. I'll treasure it for as long as I live."

"Our parents gave us each a blade when we were both really little." Yui explained, "Ui got that one, but it's never been used, so we thought you should have it. Ritsu told us about how you got Freyr's sword, and chances are that you won't have it forever. So, if you ever lose it in a time of need, you'll have it."

I tied the silk sash connected to the sheath around my body, so that the blade rested right at my waist, with the handle at just about breast level. My only worry was that Sword-chan would get jealous of my new friend here. One question popped up in my head, which I asked, "Wait, will Ui be okay without a sword to defend her?"

"That's what I'm here for." Yui proudly boasted. I noticed she seemed _much _happier and upbeat now. Perhaps it was the celebration going on?

"I feel safe with Onee-chan." Ui replied to me, taking a step closer to her sister, and taking her hand. The two of them were adorable, and I wanted to make girlish noises because of it. That would be improper though, and I was a proper lady even in a distant fantasy world. It was hard to be proper when you were in your pajamas with a cat in your shirt though. I'm sure someone would _eventually _offer me something warmer though…eventually…

Ui stepped towards the door leading the kitchen, and said, "I think it's time for us to bring the cake out."

"_Hooray!_" I cheered in unison with Yui. The suddenness of it left us both in a fit of laughter. I felt great, being with cake and friends again.

Finishing laughing, I looked to Yui and said, "You look like you're in a much better mood then when we first met. Glad to see it."

Yui nodded, still smiling, "We weren't sure if you were going to be okay, so I'm really glad to see you." She did an impressive vault over the bar onto the stool next to me, "You saved my life back there Mugi-chan. I'm not going to forget that, and…and…" Catching me off guard, she grabbed me into a tight, brief hug, then let me go. "…There. So, you wouldn't happen to like cake, would you?"

"I don't want to say that I ate it every day in my world…but I ate it every day in my world." I smiled wide, showing my shiny white teeth that were somehow perfect despite how much sugary things I ate. Maybe I was just lucky.

The cake wasn't a birthday cake or anything like that, but more like those Spanish cakes I had tried during my one vacation in Spain. It was coated in a sugar glaze that tasted, for lack of a better word, natural. There wasn't much to go around, just enough for me and all my immediate friends (Eila and Litvyak included) to have seconds. Sure it couldn't rival the vanilla crazy cake I had meant to share with my friends in chapter 1, but it still tasted heavenly. I enjoyed that night quite thoroughly, eating cake, drinking tea, talking with all my new friends. Through them, I was able to learn just a little bit about the world around me.

The two white haired girls were from Varyag, which I found was _much_ bigger than that map had made it out to be. Sakuragyfli was a speck compared to Varyag. I did a bit of mental equations and estimated it to be about the size of China, maybe a bit bigger. It was separated into three different parts- Western, central, and eastern. Eastern was culturally like early XXth century Russia, and was where Litvyak was from. That was just what I was able to deduct, even if I was almost certainly wrong. Central Varyag was a dismal wasteland of mountains and snow, with the people there being centuries behind everyone else. Eila was from Western Varyag, and from what she said, I think it was like Scandinavia and Finland. She spoke pretty highly about her home there, going on about all the natural wonders and stuff, and how crappy Sakuragyfli was in comparison.

From Mio, I learned that Sakuragyfli had a been bad luck since its founding a few centuries ago. It had been established as a window between Varyag and the island nation of Aibureido (which sounded a lot like feudal era Japan to me), and her father had only recently stepped up as king 13 years ago through inheritance. The place had been plagued with problems, and although the Akiyama's were much loved by the people, things had only gotten worse since they took the throne. Mugitsu wasn't helping lately either. Apparently, she had once been part of a network of evil warlords who had slaughtered tens of thousands of people over several decades. Mio took no joy in telling me how in fighting between them had left Mugitsu and only Mugitsu left. She didn't look very happy telling me much of anything about this place. I listened though, because I wanted to learn just a little bit about this world so I could fit in just a bit better.

The night had dragged on for awhile, and the sun was beginning to come up. People were talking about how it was just about time for everyone to just head home. I hadn't realized how late it had gotten though, and noticed Ritsu had fallen asleep on top of a table without any pants on. That was probably Pickles The Cat's fault, he did stuff like that a lot. I was getting sleepy too, and was about to tell Mio and the rest good night when something a bit interesting happened.

I was still at the bar, and from behind me, I heard the sound of boots clicking loudly across the hardwood floor. The entire tavern was silent now, all conversation had completely ceased at random. I turned around to see what was up. All in all, it had been a bad time for me to be sitting alone then.

"Must have been some party." A woman standing in the center of the room smirked, arms outstretched. I recognized her instantly, with her skimpy black metal armor, and the silver sword at her waist. It was Mugitsu, who had been able to apparently just march right in. "Why wasn't I invited?"

I quickly looked around, and saw Yui draw her sword, and Eila brandish a knife. They were each on the other side of the room, and if I learned anything from _Final Fantasy: Tactics_; it was the value of flanking. Sword-chan was freed from my back, ready to defend me a moments notice if Mugitsu was here for trouble. Other people had drawn weapons too, with nearly a dozen of us armed now. Mugitsu looked around at us and just laughed, "Oh, that's cute. Figures that you barbarians would greet me with blades drawn." She spat on the floor, "Typical."

With bravery I didn't know she had, Mio stepped forward, "W-What do you want! Why are you here!"

"This was an open social gathering, was it not?" She was certainly being rhetorical, but I didn't know if a guest list had been written up or not. Her gauntleted hand brushed a lock of black hair from her pale face, and her mocking smile turned into a disdainful scowl, "In all seriousness, I came to meet the one who slew Poshkt first hand. I had heard they had woken just today, and I figured this would be quite the place to meet them. So step forward Hero, let me have a look at you."

Before I could say anything, Yui boldly declared, "It was me. I was the one who beat him."

I was confused now. Why would Yui-chan take the credit for something like that?

Mugitsu laughed at her, "Do you take me for a fool? You could barely make a fist after I ran you through." Her eyes scanned each person, and I was mentally screaming, '_Don't stop on me! Don't stop on me! Don't stop on me!_' She stopped one me. Her eyebrows (the same shape as mine) perked up, and she looked surprised, "You... It would be fitting that _you_ would be the one to do such a thing." Mugitsu took a few steps towards me, now within striking distance, "Just what are you doing here anyway?"

"I…I…" I stammered, not sure how to answer that. Her face was right up on mine, cold and sinister. Not just that, but breathtaking beautiful in a way that made me think 'succubus'. I had no idea what she had meant by that question. Was she confused that I would be here in stead of somewhere nicer?

"Meow." Pickles The Cat said from the bar stool next to me. He had been sitting there after presumably getting tired of hanging out in my shirt. All things in moderation I supposed.

"Shh!" I shh'd him, since he wasn't helping here. With agile reflexes far beyond my own, Mugitsu snatched him up in her hand, holding him just behind his neck. I went to grab for him, but her gauntleted hand was shoved into my face, keeping me back. Pickles The Cat didn't really seem to mind being in her clutches.

"Stop! Give him back!" I whined, trying desperately to reach him. Everyone with weapons took a step forward towards us.

"You took a pet from me, why shouldn't I do the same?" She hissed, still keeping me away.

"Because Pickles The Cat never hurt anyone!" I lied. He had hurt me, Mother, and Ritsu on more than one occasion. But it wasn't anything serious though.

"And had Poshkt hurt anyone truly close to you?" Mugitsu's hand pressed against my face harder, knocking me out of the bar stool. I hit the ground, and knocked all the other ones around me over. I landed on by back and sat up, looking at her with hurt eyes. Why did she have to be so mean to me? I wanted to cry.

"Mugi-chan!" Mio cried out. From behind Mugitsu, I saw her quickly moving her hands and fingers like she was going to cast a spell. In a flash, the kitty kidnapper drew her silver sword and the pointy in out at me. Right at my neck. I think everyone in the room could hear me gulp at that point.

"If any of you so much as look at me wrong- she loses her pretty little head." Mugitsu announced. Her compliment towards me didn't feel like all that much of a compliment, "Same goes for your little sword there too." Sword-chan floated away from her just a bit, thankfully. "Now that we're all on the same page, I want an answer to my question. What justifies your murder of my pet!"

"H-He was h-h-hurting Y-Yui-c-c-c-han." I stuttered, hardly even able to speak from the terror I was experiencing. At one point, I thought I could have maybe reasoned with her, and used the power of friendship to make her not evil. That sounded a lot more impossible all of a sudden. I was shaking from fear, and every ounce of my will power was going towards keeping my bladder from embarrassingly malfunctioning.

She held up Pickles The Cat just above her head, and I could hear him purring contently. I don't know if he was considering defecting to her side, or was just unaware of the potential danger in front of him.

"So…" She growled towards me, "Were this little animal to claw me, would I be within my rights to hack it in two?"

The tip of her sword was moved a bit closer to my neck. I was sweating all over now, but wasn't crying at least. I remembered what my mother told me back in junior high when a few older girls would pick on me. She told me that if I gave into their scare tactics, then they won. While I had to play it a bit safer here, she was still right. I couldn't let Mugitsu feel like she was winning here. I took in a deep breath and replied to her as bravely as I could, "No! That's not the same and you know it!"

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrows. Slowly, I began to stand up, and she kept the sword against my neck.

"You sent that demon to hurt people." I so desperately hoped that was correct, since nobody had outright stated that as fact. "What was someone like me supposed to do? He even started that fight!"

"Did he really?" Her tone was that of mock surprise. I flinched and shut my eyes real quick when she swung her blade so that it faced Eila on the other side of the room; by the piano. She took a few steps towards her, "Because, from where I was standing, it looked like _she_ was the first person to make a move."

Eila stuck her tongue out at Mugitsu briefly, and had her knife ready, "What if I did?"

I cringed at her boldness. Mugitsu snapped her fingers, and the dagger Eila was holding broke apart in her hands. The white haired girl gave a curt growl and produced another. With another finger snap, that one shattered too. So Eila drew a _third_, and smiled boldly, "We can do this for hours, Death Witch."

Mugitsu rolled her eyes and tossed Pickles The Cat aside. He landed on all fours, and nonchalantly wandered off to do cat things. She turned back to me, her face was painted with maddening disdain towards. "I did not come to harass," She began, "but to warn."

"Warn?" Mio repeated.

"Yes." She nodded, "Your addled little minds aren't able to understand this, but I don't act against you out of pure spite or malice." And of course she decided to point at me, "Tsumugi, you understand this, and you understand that facing me only makes things worse on a more cosmic scale. You know who is really the good guy here, so I don't know why you insist on siding with these mongrels… but at the same time, something about you is different. I don't know what it is, but something in your eyes marks you as not being you. It doesn't matter though, does it? The end is coming and there's nothing we can do but prepare for it; which is precisely what I'm here for." Mugitsu turned to face the door, finishing up her little speech, "That is what I came to say. It was good to meet you again though, Tsumugi, and part of me is glad to see you faring well. Even if you align yourself with the wrong crowd. Goodbye now."

"Wait!" I shouted as she walked towards the door. Everyone's eyes were on me, and rightfully so after everything Mugitsu had just said. She didn't wait though, so I had to speak quickly, "I don't know what you're talking about at all! I've never met you in my life, and I don't know what anything you just said means. I don't even know how you know my name, since I only just got here."

She looked over her shoulder at me, and I saw something in her eyes that surprised me just a bit. It looked like…_hurt._

"I see." Mugitsu quietly said, then pushed through the door. It was only briefly open, but in front of the inn, I could see some kind of winged reptilian monster with deep gray scales. I assumed that was what she used to get around. That figured, I got a horse, and she got a horrible flying lizard demon beast. Why did everyone else always get the cool things.

People were still eyeing me though, with Eila's glare being the most distrustful. Those stares were piercing me though, and I tried to explain to everyone, "I don't know what she was talking about, I really don't. To be honest though, there _was_ a Mugitsu in my world though."

That was met with an explosion of murmurs and whispers between one another. Nobody knew quite what to make of that. Mio stepped next to me, and I could tell that she was worried.

"Why didn't you tell us that earlier?" She asked me, sounding almost hurt that I would neglect such a thing.

"Because I didn't think it mattered." I answered honestly.

Eila shouted before Mio could reply, "Why wouldn't you think something like that would matter! I know you're not exactly the smartest girl around, but… #!*% it, that should have been obvious for you!"

Mio stayed silent, as if waiting for me to reply to Eila. I hoped that didn't mean she was taking her side in this, or no longer trusting me. Honesty was the best policy, so I told her the truth, "Because in my world she wasn't a real person. At one point I fabricated her existence in some stupidly unelaborated scheme." _Price of Attention, _read it to find out what I was talking about, "And at another point, someone else pretended to be her as well." _Something For Everyone_.

"That's…" Eila looked towards her booted feet, shaking her head, "…I don't know what that is! This is too #!*% confusing for me and the sun is rising. I'm going to bed now because I'm too tired to deal with this. Coming Sanya?"

Litvyak nodded, and I wondered if I had ever heard her speak aloud. The two of them walked out together, which made me wonder if they lived or slept together. Despite the tension between us, I had to admit that Juutilainen was quite pretty, and the two of them would be a nice pair. I'm sure some people would frown upon me coming up with romantic pairings for people I knew, but that was an age old hobby for me.

I had been up all night, and was hardly even awake anymore. Besides Mugitsu showing up and ruining everything with her shenanigans and finger pointing, it hadn't been a bad night. The cake was good, the friends were good, and the tea was good. What more could I have wanted? I sighed, and turned to the narrow stairs that lead upwards, "I'm going to bed. Good night, or day, everyone."

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Author's Note Thing- **__Another thank you for everyone who read and review. This story is eating up most of my free time, which is evident when you look at how fast these chapters come out, along with how #!*% long they are. Come to think of it, I think this story is 'technically' a cross over, since I've thrown in characters and elements from three other settings now. In the next chapter, I raise to that to four._

_A preview of what's to come- Yuri, enough crossover stuff to make Konata proud, defeating evil with the power of hugs and love, and horrible undead monstrosities forged from the spirits of a hundred tortured souls!_

**My name is Starasp, and I approve this chapter.**


	6. Looks Like She's Settling In

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 6**

**LOOKS LIKES SHE'S SETTLING IN**

_**(FUN FACT)-**__In my quest to keep Mugi as in character as possible, I went and rewatched some of the anime and the DVD specials (which hurt my brain), but that didn't really help at all. You see, unlike every other character in the series, she's given NO monologue and hardly any characterization. So I guess my interpretation of her is as valid as any other. Also read through the anthology series (even if it isn't canon), and its influence will appear here. In one panel, Mugi has a cat, take that for what you will._

**THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES…**

When I first arrived in Sakuragyfli, I believed I couldn't go a single day without something try to murder me, it turned out those first three days weren't a good standard. Fifteen days had passed since I met Mugitsu, and not once had someone tried to kill me. That made for 25 days without a murder attempt, which I was quite glad to hear. In those fifteen days, not much had happened, and it really wasn't worth going into detail about it.

Most of my time had been spent with Mio and Ritsu, since Yui hadn't quite fallen in with them yet. She was still a bit distant, keeping to herself and with Ui. I learned that Castle Sakuragyfli had quite the library, and when I wasn't with friends, I was reading stories written centuries ago. Most of them detailed the adventures of larger than life heroes, and I found myself enthralled with them. The things these people did were so grand and amazing, that I could hardly believe them. Mio assured me that almost all of these tales were true, but even then I had trouble believing them. There were stories of groups of friends saving kingdoms by slaying what amounted to gods. Individuals driving back entire armies single handedly. What saddened me about these stories was how many of them were lacking the same thing. The names of the heroes.

These people had gone in, done some amazing heroic feat, then just simply disappeared before anyone could even get their names. It made me wonder if the same would happen to me if I did something truly of note. Would I fade into annals of this world's history? Books couldn't match the stories told by word of mouth though, and Mio's stories were definitely my favorite. She knew a lot of stories about heroes centuries old. My favorite was definitely the tale of the three anonymous girls who defended the border of the country Canticeal against the armies of darkness. Their friendship was what drove them forward, as opposed to the usual greed or vengeance that most of the other heroes of these stories were motivated by.

Ritsu wasn't as interested in stories of old, or really learning much of anything; unless it was about Aibureido. More than once she had invited me out to help her find and kill something for fun. She assured me it was for the thrill of the hunt, but I wasn't a hunter. The dickwolves were fine the way they were, and I really didn't want their pelts. She also invited me to play a sport with her called _Hell Ball_. It involved rapeboars, glave-guisarmes, and highly volatile dwarven explosives. Nothing about that sounded either fun or safe. To humor her, I let her explain the rules, which she apparently made up. They made me want to play even less, since nothing in it made any sense, and half the rules contradicted the other half. I had seen a fan in Mio's room, and was tempted to invite Ritsu to play Tousenkyo. However, in my world, I had beat her in that game 170 to 7. Something told me she wouldn't be any better here. Something told me she wouldn't be any good at any Geisha games.

The highlight of those two weeks was definitely when we got together and played a bit of music. We spent more time going over what to play, then actually playing, but it was fun. I helped them come up with their parts for our song _Find Me, Sniper_, and it came out quite well. Yui was there when we played, and applauded our performance. At the end though, she said, "We weren't really all that good."

I felt a twang of nostalgia. Yui wasn't one to talk though about being good or not, or at least the Yui I knew. After making us all listen to her struggle to learn the chorus for _Elder Misanthropy_ about 500 times, she didn't really have the right to criticize and anyone any more. Besides _Find Me, Sniper_, I helped with some more appropriate versions of _HTT's _best songs. I felt them suitably Viking.

_Raid And Pillage Time_

_ My Love Is A Throwing Axe_

_ Battle Axe, Beaded Axe_

_ Twilight Of The Thunder God_

Ritsu helped with the names, because apparently she liked axes.

The three of us, (Mio, Ritsu, and me) sat together on the road leading up the castle. We sat atop large rocks that had fallen down from the mountains some ages past. The sun was out today, and its bright warmth did much to counteract how cold it was. Every day, I was liking the cold a little less, and wonder how Ritsu was able to wear a short skirt in it. People said that you would get used to the cold, but they were all lying liars who told lies. A chilly wind was blowing down from the mountains, making me want to sit around a cozy fire with hot chocolate. It was just past morning, and Ritsu and Mio had wanted to come out for some fresh air. I guess they didn't see me shivering in my pajamas, because I didn't like the idea of them just ignoring my suffering. Seriously, I. Hate. The. Cold.

"Mugi-chan," Mio broke the silence, "there's been something I've been meaning to ask you."

"What's that?" I tilted my head just a bit.

She pointed at my forehead, "You have the kanji for _meat_ written on your forehead."

I glanced over at Ricchan and rolled my eyes, "Come on, even here that's really cliché. You could have written something like Oujo-sama_._"

Ritsu laughed anyway, "I couldn't help myself, but it was his idea!"

"Meow." Pickles The Cat looked the other way. I rubbed the black ink of my forehead with the back of my hand.

The Drawer On Foreheads took off her hair band and tossed it up and down like a toy. After a few minutes of that, with no talking between us, she sighed, "I'm bored, what are we doing today?"

"Nodoka and I are going to Varyag to go shopping." Mio answered. Nodoka worked at the library in the castle, but I hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her. I didn't know her all that well back home, so I didn't really know how to greet her.

Ritsu jumped up, now suddenly looking upset, "Wait, what! Why didn't you tell me!"

Mio used 'vague reply' on enemy Ricchan.

"Because you never asked."

It's not very effective.

"That doesn't mean you're not supposed to tell me! This means you're going to be gone all day and I'll have nobody to play Hell Ball with!"

"Why would I play that awful game!" Mio seemed to be getting angry at Ritsu getting angry; so I kind of scooted away. "Last time you got me and the servants to play, four people nearly died! Not to mention we were given a horrible reminder of how those boars acquired their namesake."

Now I was _really _glad I didn't play that game.

"They didn't _nearly_ die, they just were almost not alive anymore!" Ritsu cleverly retorted.

Mio stood up for where she was sitting and stomped her foot in frustration, "Why are you getting so mad about this? I need a break from all the stress going on with the graveyard!"

Graveyard? I didn't know anything about a graveyard.

Ritsu turned away, "Fine, be like that. Just leave me to go be with your precious Nodoka."

"What?" Mio what'd, and the two of us watched Ritsu angrily stomp her way back to town. The two of us sat quietly for a moment, and I wasn't sure what to say. It was Mio who spoke first, "What's with her? Can't I just spend some time with my other friends for once? Is it so much to ask for a day with a more refined human being?"

"You have me." I reminded her.

"Yeah, but you and I can't discuss magical theory and the politics between Canticeal and Mercett." Mio replied to me, sadly. "I'm sorry, but I'm leaving early today, and hopefully all that pesky graveyard business will be cleared. I'll be back tonight, and I'm sure you can have fun watching Sawako at the inn play the album _Hatebreeder_ on her lute."

She was partially right, because I'm sure Sawako would love for me to join in on piano. That was another person I wanted to get to know here better, along with Litvyak. Sawako had apparently been a travelling warrior bard back in the day; kind of like me I supposed. There was one thing I was wondering though, "What about the graveyard? I heard you mention it once the other day as well."

A chill blew over us, and Mio shuttered, "Yes…the graveyard. Um, well, all but one of the caretakers has been…_murdered_… in the past week. Along with some people in the neighboring country side. The…the deaths are, sorry, I don't want to talk about them."

"Oh my…" My voice felt quiet and hollow, "I'm so sorry to hear that. Why wasn't I told sooner?"

"Because it's not your problem." She answered, which left me feeling just a teensy bit frustrated. I couldn't stand by drink cake, eating friends, and enjoying time with cake while people were being killed. Mio took a deep breath and continued, "Father got funding by the girl who owns the land the graveyard is on, Jun Suzuki…"

I tried to hide my reaction to hearing that name. In my experience, people named Jun happened to ruin everything.

"…to pay a certified ghost hunter to come and fix the problem. According to Juutilainen and Hirasawa, it is indeed a ghost doing this."

"G-Ghost?" I shuttered. As crazy as it may have seemed, I did _not_ like the undead.

Mio nodded, her face as grim as the dead's, "Yes, the fabled Minami Iwasaki will be here today to help us."

I felt like I had heard that name before. I was feeling oddly helpful, and terrified of ghosts, but more helpful than scared. So I asked, "Is there any way I can help? Maybe not with the ghost hunting, but anything else?"

"Juutilainen apparently is organizing the hunt with Iwasaki, you'd have to talk with her to find ways to help." Mio answered.

I frowned. Of course it would be Eila I had to work with. The one person who found it funny to kick me off of cliffs, and she was in charge of this thing. Of course. Still, I wanted to be helpful, "Since you have to leave soon, I guess I'll go find her. Thanks for the information."

Mio grabbed my hand real quick. Concern was marked on her face, "Mugi, be careful. I don't want to see you hurt like last time."

"Don't worry," I had brave smile on my face, "I'm going to do my best to stay out of combat this time. No nearly dying for me this time!"

We said our brief goodbyes and I walked back into town (shivering the whole way). As I walked, I thought about how many times I had seen something that I wished I could have recorded on video. There was that time Ritsu tried jumping down the slope of the path up the castle, slipped, skinned her elbow, and Mio kissed it better. There was also that time that Juutilainen groped Mio from behind in the bath. I liked that instance quite a bit because it showed me that she harassed other people than me. Last but not least was the instance where I walked into Mio using ye olde little ladies room. I didn't want to say I had a fetish for water sports but… No, wait, a better way to phrase that would be to say that abnormality didn't stop my passion for voyeurism. Yeah, let's go with that.

However, a video camera ran the risk of a repetitive joke. Whenever any girls were doing intimate stuff, I'd be there with a video camera, and that would stop being funny after maybe the third time. Variety was the spice of life, and repetition was like smearing pie shortening onto a slice of bread and eating it. The last thing I needed was a joke to reuse until it became about as funny as the current _Garfield_ comics or _Miyuki, Thespian Extraordinaire_. Then again, it wasn't like the things I did here was for the humor of people I would never meet. In the end, it wasn't even worth worrying about.

"Meow." Pickles The Cat said from beside me.

"No, you're still funny." I assured him.

I waved and smile to the people I passed, and assumed I would find Eila happily drinking the day away at the inn whose name was too silly for me to ever repeat. It was silly in a way that reminded me of the juxtaposition between the noises people foxes made, and the noises they really made. Yui-chan was a prime offender in that, but she was a silly person, and therefore forgiven. Azusa-chan, on the other hand, was not someone who could afford to recreate such a mistake. My senseless monologue aside, I entered the dim common room of the inn/tavern, and wondered if people here ever considered installing electric lights. If people could invent mechanic crossbows that fired bolt literally at the speed of sound, I would assume that they would be able to invent light bulbs. For bring your daughter to work day, I made an LED light glow using a potato as a conductor. What was their excuse?

As fate would have it, my prediction towards Eila's state of sobriety was accurate. Except she wasn't drinking alcohol (which was a disappointment to me because she was a nice, and touchy-feely, drunk who commonly praised me for my breast size) instead she was drinking what looked and smelled to be motor oil. The stuff had a strong smell, and I could smell its smelly smelliness from here. I sat down next to her, and gave her a concerned look, "Umm… isn't drinking that kind of, err, toxic? Kidney failure kind of toxic?"

She rolled her eyes, "Tsumugi, you find new and new ways to impress me with just how unobservant you are. I'm a Sentinel, and a high level one at that. Plus with my_ Amulet Of Health_ +4, the chances of me failing the fortitude saving throw required for drinking household poisons is so low that I could essentially drink rat poison like water and be fine."

"Uh…" I wasn't sure really how to respond to that, and didn't really understand any of it, "…does that some how make it taste better?"

"It's not about the taste, it's to make me look tough for when Iwasaki comes around later today." She answered matter-o-factly, "Besides, what are you doing hanging around me anyway? I'm sure you'd have more fun banging rocks together."

"Glad to see you're in a friendly mood." I deadpanned, not really appreciating the insults. I sighed and told her why I was here, "I heard you were the one to talk to about the graveyard issues. I wish to loan myself out to help by-"

"Good." She interrupted, "You'd make a good decoy."

"That's not what I had in mind actually. I was thinking something more along the lines of, well, providing a morale boost or providing snacks in case anything goes wrong."

Eila scowled at me, "Are you trying to find ways to be useless, or does it just come natural?"

"Ha, clever. I'm sure you're saying that simply because you believe this is a problem that can only be solved by violence and insults. You'd be surprised at what a bit compassion can do." I tried to sound pleasant, and not put down by her, then added, "Failing that, you'd be even more surprised what you can do with a koto. I once won back an entire school worth of stolen club items by challenging someone to a rock off. They played the electric guitar, and I chose the koto and ended up winning."

"That sounds really dumb." Was Eila's clever retort. "Have fun getting decapitated by a bladebear when you try to hug it."

"B-bladebear?" That sounded horrifying.

She nodded, "It's a bear with chainsaws for arms and legs."

"Eegad!" I gasped, much to her content. You couldn't hug something with chainsaws for arms! Taking a more serious tone, I insisted, "Just wait until Iwasaki comes, then we'll see if she finds something for me to do."

"I have stuff to do right now if you want." Eila offered.

It was only natural that I would excitedly nod my head up and down, doing my signature eye smile thing that was implied I did during all the idle dialogue, "How can I help?"

She crossed her leg and flicked one of her white boots ever so slightly, "Shine my boots."

"Okay…" I made the 'okay' face, and she handed me a rag that Ui used to wash glasses. Reluctantly, I played the role of servant girl half wondered if she would slide her boot off and make me kiss her feet or something. As I cleaned those white boots, sad, depressing music like _A Warm Place_ by _Nine Inch Nails_ played to symbolize just how demeaning my task was. However, from where I was kneeling and shining, I could see her slight camel toe pressing against those white stocking between her legs. She had to be a couple years younger than me, which looking at her like this excitingly risky. Sakuragyfli didn't have something called 'age of consent', so I was in no danger here.

"Less gawking and more shinning." Eila snapped, pressing her other boot into my cheek, and looking down on me with crossed arms. I had the sudden urge to either kiss or lick the side of that boot.

What in the name of cakes, hugs, and rock 'n roll was wrong with me?

When I finally finished, and could see my reflection in both pieces of her footwear, she let me take a break. Apparently she had other chores for me to do; all of which she assured me would be more demeaning. I felt inappropriately excited about that. Pickles The Cat hopped up on the bar and rolled over on his back, kicking one of his hind paws ever so slightly. I rubbed his belly and chuckled, "Don't be silly, I can't shine your boots. You're a cat, you don't even know what boots is."

The door to the inn swung open, and Pickles The Cat immediately hissed as a big fluffy white border collie strode in. It was so adorable that I wanted to giggle squeal and nom some heads, then felt bad for typing that sentence because I'm not a 14 year old American girl. I was an 18 year old Mugi. There was quite the difference. Following the big fwuffy wittle puppy was its owner, presumably the Minami Iwasaki that was mentioned earlier.

She was clad in a leather duster, with the sleeves rolled up past her elbow. Beneath it I could see faded khaki pants that were tucked into heavy, worn work boots. On her back was a sheathed katana, because apparently everyone had one these days. I had the Masamune on me at all times; if only because there seemed to be no place to put my things. Anyway, her most distinguishing feature was her curious mint green hair, which was just longer than Ritsu's without her signature headband.

Her heavy boots clicked loudly on the hardwood as her dog sniffled around. Eila jumped up to and greet her with a fast hand shake.

"Iwasaki? A pleasure to meet you." She bowed, "I'm Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen, but you may call me simply by my last name. I think it's important to note that I'm the one paying you."

Iwasaki's voice was this perfect monotone, but was strangely beautiful (even if she was completely flat chested), "You're a Sentinel?"

Eila looked taken back, "Uh, yeah, yeah I am. Not sure why that matters, but okay." She pointed at me, "That there is Tsumugi Useless-o-buki. I'm only telling you this because she's about to come up here and eagerly introduce herself and ask how she can help you."

That.

That was exactly what was I was planning to do. Since I wasn't a spiteful teenager who liked to do the exact opposite of what people told her, I pleasantly made my way over to the newcomer. I outstretched my hand, which she nonchalantly shaked. Her fingerless gloves felt cool. I wonder what they smelled like?

I curtly bowed, "You may call me Mugi, and I'm here to make your visit to Sakuragyfli as pleasant as possible."

I saw her bright blue eyes observing my two swords. She turned to Eila and said, "This one holds a Masamune as well. You didn't tell me that a sword saint counted herself among the ranks your militia."

"What?" Eila's eyes narrowed, and then focused on me, "Tsumugi, what did you do?"

I used basic reasoning skills, and replied to Iwasaki, "You have a sword like mine too? How wonderful, we have something in common!"

She took her own blade off her back without drawing it, and we compared the two. Definitely of the same craftsman, but hers was worn and warped from age. We each drew our swords from their sheathes to compare the blades. Mine was in pristine condition, while hers had knicks, dents, and spots of rust all up the blade.

"So cool…" I swooned over her battle bruised blade. She chuckled at me as she returned her katana to its place on her back, and I did the same, "Wait, what's a sword saint?"

"Those who wield a Masamune are generally renown as a being warriors of legendary, and even divine skill." She eye me curiously, "Of course, you would have to know that already if a sword smith forged such a weapon for you."

I blushed and told her the truth, "I'm actually not all that much of a warrior. This sword was given to me as a gift for saving someone. What's so special about it?"

"A Masamune is a blade so expertly forged that only a select few are destined to wield them," She further explained, "you must have really done something magnificent to warrant someone passing on such a weapon to you."

Eila stepped in front of us, not looking anything close to happy. It was strange, around me she was rude, obnoxious, always calling me names and putting me down, but she wasn't always like that. During those few hours in the morning and evening when she saw Litvyak, she was a totally different person. She was always smiling, praising the other Sentinel on everything she did, holding her hand, and just stuff like that. Maybe she was in love and frustrated that the two of them couldn't be together more, because Litvyak patrolled the mountains at night. Apparently she was quite good at it, despite only being 14 years old. I was impressed, because even at age 18, I could hardly navigate through a dark room with a Christmas tree in it.

"Okay, we can compare breast sizes later when this is over." She said, and was about to continue before I cut her off.

"Can we really?"

"No, I was using that as a satiric way of saying that your comparison of swords is stupid because you don't actually use that one." She answered, which made me pout, "Also, your boobs suck, which fits right in there with the satire."

I patted my boobs, making a sad face, and for reason Iwasaki did the same thing. To her own I mean, because this was a public place. She was making almost the exact same face as mine too. But…but… _Kitty Paws!_ I mentally screamed in frustration at Eila's constant harassment. She was being to me what America was to ever other country in the world. With Poshkt being Iraq, and Mugitsu being North Korea. In this case, I was Canada.

"Why does your breath smell like motor oil?" Iwasaki asked her.

"Because I'm a bad enough chick to drink motor oil." She boasted, then eyed me, "Unlike _some_ people."

The joke was on her, I had drank bleach once on a dare. It was a good thing that Mother kept poison control's number on speed dial.

"Anyway…" She went on, gesturing us to follow her outside, "Let me take you to the graveyard so that I can show you what's up."

I squeaked as the cold winds of Sakuragyfli hit me once again. Just after the three of us stepped outside, Eila turned around and stopped me by pushing me back a bit. Rejection hurt, it hurt bad.

"You stay here," She ordered, "make us tea or something. Wait, no, not 'or something', definitely do that. Are you any good at making snacks?"

"I've told you on multiple occasions that I an proficient cook." I reminded her, since I had told her on multiple occasions that I was a proficient cook.

"Good. Have Ui let you make us sugar cookies."

The fact that she was being a total a total (insert insult of your choice here) didn't stop me from wanting to bake cookies. My feelings towards Juutilainen were difficult for me to express, let alone even really understand. The way she relentlessly hounded on me for even the slightest thing was frustrating, and it made me feel oh so very small. That made what little praise she gave me so worthwhile. I was getting so flustered about the way she treated me, but at the same time, it was kind of exciting. Trying to be rational about my thoughts, I decided I felt this way because I essentially lacked life experience. People never insulted me anywhere else, and therefore it made her harassing me exciting. Part of me had this fantasy of her stepping barefoot on my face, but that wasn't worth going into. Fetishes were fun though, as long as they didn't get too out of control or disgusting.

Ui helped me use the clay cooking oven to bake some archaic sweets. I didn't see Yui around, and asked about her whereabouts. She told me of how Yui and Eila were supposed to go to Varyag's capital to meet with other Sentinels to discuss worldly events. Litvyak was staying behind her because her rank in the organization wasn't high enough to warrant her presence there. Poor girl, it sounded like she was just left out of everything. I thanked Ui for her wonderful assistance, and when the cookies were done, we each had one to celebrate our culinary victory.

Yummy.

Within the span of a half hour, Juutilainen and Iwasaki returned, with that friendly white dog following them. I wanted to go and pet it, but I knew Pickles The Cat would get jealous and react by stealing my panties off my body while I slept and hiding them. A bra I was managing to do without, by the panties were really a must since the waistband of my pajamas was starting to wear out and stretch, causing them to ride down just a bit. Yet nobody had offered me a change of clothes yet. I had been offered a fabulously crafted katana, but not a bra. Either everyone was just oblivious, or a complete pervert.

"Mmm, these are pretty good." Eila remarked after helping herself to a few of my cookies, "A natural 20 on your profession: cooking check I bet."

I didn't know what that meant, but I eye smiled at her compliment. Iwasaki nibbled at a cookie as well, and fed a few to her dog. We were running out quickly. The mint haired girl softly spoke, "Juutilainen, when will Litvyak join us? She needs to know of the circumstances that plague your cemetery."

"She's asleep. Remember, she's like a little night owl that keeps us safe." Eila answered, her mood considerably brightening with the subject of her friend being brought up. "I know it sounds reckless, but I hope there are ghosts or monsters to kill. Fighting alongside Sanya is so wonderful, and the two of us are an amazing team."

"But you have to go to Varyag, remember?" I reminded her. The three of us were sitting at a round table together. She threw a cookie across it, which hit me straight in the forehead. "Owie…"

"We can wait until she returns." Iwasaki told us.

Eila shook her head, "Oh no, I know you're getting paid by the hour here so we got to get this done and over with before you suck up all of Sakuragyfli's money like some kind of horrible money sponge. I'm sure you and Sanya will be able to handle it just fine."

"Are there any others who could aid us?" She asked, looking about the inn, "I would prefer a third person to watch my back. If the circumstances are as bad as I think they are, one more person will come in handy greatly. "

"Pick a warrior out of the crowd, we got dozens here." Eila shrugged.

Iwasaki shook her head, "I want someone who I know is reliable, and has experience hunting things not of Midgard."

I raised my hand, "I've killed frost giants and scary flying vulture people demon things."

"Vrocks." Eila clarified.

The duster wearing woman's face lit up in surprise, "Juutilainen, you didn't tell me that this girl here was a giant and demon slayer. You only told me of how she fell off a cliff."

"Fell?" I deadpanned.

Eila shrugged, hands to either side, and looked the other way, "You didn't ask. But sure, take Tsumugi, she can tank for you."

"Tank?" Why didn't I like the sound of that?

Iwasaki's face was impossible for me to read. It was blank, and everything she said was in a flat monotone. I wondered why didn't seem to show emotions, because that would creep some people out. To me, it sounded like she was in danger of a Mugi-hug. She cracked her knuckles and replied, "I'm not asking for someone to shield me. Not to mention, wouldn't something like that be better suited for one who called themselves a Sentinel?"

"I couldn't be a shield, because I never ever have gotten hit in a fight." Eila boasted. But after returning from Varyag, I had seen her with bandages. She couldn't have been lying, could she?

I was going to ask about this little inconsistency when someone burst through the door. It was Ricchan, who had bits of frost covering her as she tried to catch her breath. I'd seen this before in my stay, it was her sweat freezing over because of how terribly, terribly cold. On certain days, it would be cold enough for external bodily fluids to freeze, and I made a mental note to never get aroused while outdoors. She stumbled over to us, panting, and the some ten people there that day had their eyes on her.

"Woo, that was long run…" She exhaled, both hands gripping the side of our table. Ritsu laughed to herself, and excitedly told us, "You should have seen me! I was sprinting really fast, jumping over fences, ducking in between people and stuff. Oh man, I was on fire!"

"I don't see any burn marks." Juutilainen sounded disappointed. This furthered my theory that she didn't like anyone.

"Wow Ricchan, you must have looked really cool!" I swooned, because watching her run around like that in her short skirt would have been _awesome_~. However, it did prompt one question from me, "Why were you running though?"

"Oh, right, that." Ritsu cleared her throat, and frantically shouted, "There have been even more murders!"

"Goodness!" I gasped.

Iwasaki tensed up, "This force is operating by day… This is bad, very bad."

Juutilainen gave a awkward, inappropriate laugh, "Ha-ha, pretty good thing I get to skip town! I hear Varyag is quite nice this time this time of year!"

The mint haired mercenary stood up, and spoke to Ritsu, "Where did this take place, I'll need to examine the bodies for clues as to just what we're facing is."

"Suzuki knows the details." Ritsu replied, "Know where she lives?"

She nodded, "Juutilainen and I spoke with her earlier."

Speaking of which, the white haired warrior was slowly inching her way to the door, "Well, good luck with all that I guess. Sanya said she'll meet you two at the graveyard tonight, assuming Tsumugi doesn't get her panties in a wad and chicken out."

"Clever." I rolled my eyes. I had this nagging fear that by the end of this, she was going to turn me into a cynic. The last thing anyone needed was me behaving like Kyon, who ranked pretty high on the list of 'most unlikable characters'. All he did was complain, and never smiled or was really nice to anyone. The mere thought of turning into that was frightening, and I already just made a snarky remark.

"Noted." Iwasaki didn't look at her. I had the feeling she felt that Juutilainen was rather immature. Not even the fun immature like Yui normally was. "Before we meet up with Suzuki, I need to stop just outside of town to gather the things I have hidden there. We're going to go to the graveyard and stay there until nightfall after gathering the details. Is that alright with you Useless-o-buki."

"It's Kotobuki, but yes, just let me gather a few things. It won't even take a few minutes," I replied, hoping that Juutilainen's new name for me wouldn't catch on. She nodded, and I went to the kitchen to ask Ui if she could help me prepare a proper picnic basket. I noticed that Iwasaki's fluffy white dog was following me. I called out to her, asking, "I had forgot to ask, what is your furry friend's name."

"Cherry."

"Cherry the dog?" I bent down and stroked her soft white fur.

"Woof." Cherry said, and I had to contain squee's from her adorableness. Pickles The Cat eyed me with malice in his beady green eyes. I fed her a cookie that was left over from the batch earlier, and got the feeling that I had permanently earned her trust and friendship from that. She reminded me of when I used to be friends with that girl Miyuki in Junior High, and how she would chatter on and on about her neighbors cookie eating dog. I couldn't, for the life of me, remember what the dog's name had been.

Ui was more than helpful to help me make some snacks and pack a proper basket. It was her way of indirectly helping the people here. Because she was helping me help find way to help Iwasaki help the people by helping stop whatever was killing people. Or something. My basket contained a nice little quilt she donated, some tea with cups to match for the three of us, some nice biscuits and butter, and sandwiches. She was amazed when I explained the concept of sandwiches to her, since they were apparently a delicacy limited mostly to the country Canticeal. Ui had heard of them, but had never been taught how to make one. She thanked me for passing on the secret of sandwiches. I was only too glad to help.

After getting my basket packed, I thanked Ui, and followed Iwasaki out with Cherry…and Juutilainen. Shivering from the ever present cold, I had to ask her, "W-Wait, w-w-why are y-y-y-ou following us? I th-thought you w-w-were leaving."

"I wanted to see what cool things she had that warranted her hiding it." She shrugged, apparently not bothered by the cold at all; like always. I had to wonder just how comfortable her long sleeved, tight blue jacket was. It had two pouched at the waist, and I just had to wonder if she was carrying some kind of magical portable fireplace in them. I did notice she had a red ring (not of death) on her left ring finger. Maybe it had magical powers?

"Stop staring at my ring, and before you ask it's magical and protects me from the cold. And, no, you can't have one." She answered before I could ask.

Those.

Those were the answers to the questions I was going to ask. Could she read minds too?

Iwasaki lead us just outside of the town, past the wooden palisade, to a little nook in between two large jagged rocks. From there, she removed burlap sack in the shape of a duffel bag. That's what it pretty much was, a duffel bag made from the available materials of this world. She undid the leather strings keeping it closed and rooted through it. From over her shoulder, I could see some spare changes of clothes, food, and a hunting rifle? No, no, it was a M1 Garand. Enough World War 2 shooters had been made in my life time for me to know that, whether I played them or not.

She pulled out the long semi-automatic rifle, and a satchel filled with ammunition to go with it. Taking a clip out of the satchel, she observed it, then loaded it into the weapon. I was amazed, because I hadn't thought that such weapons existed here.

Eila, on the other hand, took a step back, visibly worried, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you didn't say anything about bringing a gun. You… you don't really need that, do you?"

She gave a hopeless sigh, "I paid heavily for the silver ammunition, of course I am going to use it. Certain varieties of undead can only be harmed with special materials, and the amount I paid for this enchanted, silver ammunition is part of the reason I charge your town so much for my services."

"I think it's cool." I put my opinion in, because sugoi things were sugoi.

Juutilainen smacked me upside the head for saying that, knocking me forward a bit. She then ranted, "No, Tsumugi, guns are most certainly not 'cool'. Every time they show up, trouble is bound to happen. All they do is make things like honor and pure skill obsolete in the face of a small piece of metal firing at you some hundreds of kilometers an hour."

"What about your mechano-bow?" I asked.

"What about it?"

"You told me once that it fired faster than the speed of sound. The speed of sound is roughly 1,236 kilometers per hour, and you said it fired _faster_ than that. Now assuming, that Iwasaki-san's rifle is firing standard 7.62mm rounds, that means her weapon is firing at about 3094 kilometers per hour. Either way, they both fire faster than mach1, and cannot be seen by the human eye as they fire. Plainly speaking, your weapon fires projectiles that are much larger than a bullet, and could cause much more devastation. What I'm trying to say that is that it's kind of wrong to criticize one form of weaponry when your very own is a monstrous tool of carnage in its own way." I explained. It was a good thing that I could remember random things I read from books.

Eila blinked, her left eye twitching.

Iwasaki slung her rifle over her shoulder, and shook her head, "We don't have time for this you two. Firearms are only outlawed in one single country far from here, so your complaints mean nothing. Come Kotobuki, the night welcomes us."

Picnic basket in hand, I followed her to the graveyard, this time without Eila. As we walked back through town, I noticed how devoid of life it now was. I guess the newest development in this case had sent people hiding, and rightfully so. How something like this had gone on for as long as it did made me wonder. I felt safe by Iwasaki though, so I wasn't too terrified. Eila's reaction to her weapon had me thinking though, so I asked, "Say, why did Juutilainen get so upset when she saw your rifle?"

"Those of Varyag often fear such weapons. Easy to manufacture, easy to wield, they can turn even the lowliest of peasants into fearsome warriors." Iwasaki explained to me, and I nodded as I listened. She was silent for a moment before continuing, "Firearms are only made in a few countries, since they aren't always practical against monsters and demons. One such country, Mercett, used them to gain their independence from the nation that previously governed them. The place quickly fell into a state of anarchy, with mercenary warlords endlessly fighting for power and territory. Often, Mercett is used as an example as to why guns are evil devices. They are a necessary evil in my eyes though."

"Thank you for telling me." I replied, keeping my eyes fixed on the snowy ground below me. The thought of guns being used against _me_ was a terrifying one. Sword-chan could block swords and people, but what could she do against a bullet racing at me? I shuttered at that thought, and hoped I would never see a gun after this night.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

_**Author's Notes!- **__I've decided to make a bit of an effort to shorten these chapters just a bit. I realize that ten thousand words is a lot to take in at once, and most of my more subtle attempts at humor and plot development will be lost in the mass of text. Dialogue eats up most of the space, but I can't bring myself to shorten it. Doing that makes me feel like I'm stealing the life of out of this story, leaving a soulless shell of characters wandering about doing various things._

_Also, I realize that someone is going to call me out of Tsumugi's boot fetish monologue thing. It was there mainly as a dumb little joke, and it's like what she mentioned earlier about lacking life experience. Being rich and moderately sheltered, things like that interest her, and provokes weird thoughts from her. _

_Beta'd by Starasp. Can't you see he's the man, let me hear you applaud, he's more than a man, he's a shiny golden god._


	7. The Three Midnight Songbirds

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 7**

**THE THREE MIDNIGHT SONGBIRDS**

"There was a farm outside of town…" Jun began explaining to us as the three of us walked together through the bleak hills that served as Sakuragyfli's cemetery. It had been used to bury all the dead throughout the city-state at one point, before the casualties became too much. It had to have been several square kilometers wide, and devoid of snow. The grass was overgrown and sickly yellow with all the caretakers now gone. Even in broad daylight I though it was rather spooky and simply not a good place to have a picnic. The gravestones stuck out from the tall grass, standing low and just waiting to trip some one. The majority of them were in Varyag runes or Japane- I mean 'Aibureidon' kanji, with the ages ranging from people living for nearly a century, to children who were barely old enough to walk. Those ones saddened me the most and I tried desperately to not even think of just how awful that was. Infant fatalities were, if not the most, one of my least favorite things ever.

"…it had a big family, maybe twenty people…" She continued, sounding like she was reluctant to even speak of it. Who could blame her though? "…they were all killed, completely mutilated. Their home was destroyed too, looked like a dragon or something did it."

"Are dragons real?" I asked. And yes, it did occur to me how that may have been something of an inappropriate question to ask then.

Iwasaki nodded to me, and replied to her,"Hm, I'm not sure what kind of spirit could cause so much destruction during daylight. Perhaps this goes beyond a mere haunting."

"I don't like haunted stuff," I pouted, excluding the fun of haunted houses, "but I'll help in anyway I can."

To my surprise, the duster donning warrior placed a hand on my shoulder and gave me a light smile, "I appreciate it…Tsumugi..." I think she had to think for a moment to remember my name, "…The very fact that you're trying to lend what ever aid you can, no matter how petty and insubstantial, to this means more than I could place with meager words. You could very well risk your life in this, but you're working past that and past fear. It's any extremely noble gesture that shines in such dark times."

"Why…thank you." I felt like I should have said more, but I was not a woman of many words. At least compared to other people, who seemed to make poetic speeches every chance they got.

Iwasaki nodded once more, and continued her conversation with Jun, "Is there a place where we could oversee the entire area? Like a high building or tree?"

"Sounds like Heinous Hill is the place you want to go. It's here in the graveyard, let me take you there." Jun offered, and we followed her. I assumed it was the really big hill on the far side. The one that put the entire graveyard in between us and Sakuragyfli if anything went wrong. The hill reminded of the one we visited in a similar graveyard during my old friend Miyuki's birthday party in Junior High. See, Miyuki had us sneak out in the dead of night with her so she could start digging up graves and collecting human skulls. Apparently 12 were too many to have on her own, so she snuck a few into my overnight bag when I wasn't looking. Boy, had _that _been fun to explain to my mother and father. That girl confused the ever living fluff out of me because when I last saw her with her new friends; she was well…nicer and politer than I was.

"…And here we are." She stated after leading us to the highest hill in the haunted cemetery. It provided us a good view the entire plot of land. It all seemed so much bigger from up there, and I could see fog rolling in from the mountains. The sun was beginning to set as well. Suddenly, I had the urge to leave and go back into town where it was guaranteed to be safer. I couldn't leave now, that was out of the question, but it was tempting under this atmosphere of intense gloom. It was times like these that I would begin thinking about the implications of the things surrounding me then have a mental breakdown. Like how I was essentially meters away from the rotting carcasses of dead human babies. I threw up in my mouth just a little.

"Tell Litvyak to find us here if you see her." Iwasaki requested. Jun nodded, and then presumably left to go do things far, far away from this haunted plot of deathly land. I guess my partner noticed how uneasy I looked and placed a hand on my shoulder. Something about her was strange. She gave me to the impression at first that she was this cold, aloof, wandering mercenary, but now there was more to her that I wasn't getting. We sat together in the tall grass, which was pleasantly comfortable now that I set my picnic blanket over it. I went to begin setting up refreshments, but she told me to wait for our last member. I was a bit excited, I had to admit, since I never really got to see Litvyak, nonetheless talk to her.

The excitement did little to quell the anxiety I was feeling then. It was comparable to what I felt when standing against Poshkt, not sure if I was going to live or die. I felt like that now because I had no idea what was going happen that night. My hands wouldn't stop shaking, and Pickles the Cat hadn't come with me, so I felt even more alone then. I saw Iwasaki gently petting Cherry next to her, and felt a sense of almost envy.

Shaking still, I casually struck up conversation with her, "S-So, do you travel from place to place, or have somewhere you can g-go home too?"

In her flat, yet beautiful voice, she replied, "I have a home faraway in Aibureido. I don't like travelling much. Too many unfamiliar beds, unfamiliar faces, and unfamiliar enemies."

"I can almost relate." I replied, and sighed, "My own home is very far away. I don't know if I'll ever see it again."

"Where are you from?" She asked, tilting her head in curiosity.

"You're allowed to laugh at this… I'm from an entirely different world." I answered.

I wasn't sure what to expect from her as an answer, and a slight nod of the head didn't surprise me. Nobody ever seemed surprised by that answer. I was beginning to suspect that there were others like me. Wayward souls trapped here from other worlds and dimensions, unable to go home.

"You'll find a way." Iwasaki said after a moment of silence between us. Our eyes met, "Don't ever give up. If you give up, then you already have lost."

I smiled as a reply, because I was afraid words would spoil my gratitude with the way they oftentimes betrayed me. A simple kind message of hope from her, even if she didn't know anything of my circumstance. It showed me that she was at least willing to exert effort towards making me feel better, and it made me feel touched. I could tell she was really a kind person. I hoped that I wasn't being too forward when I asked…

"You make it sound like you don't like travelling all that much. Why do you it then?"

"Sometimes what you want doesn't always coincide with what you have to do." She replied. I could have made that inference on my own though.

I nodded, "Yes. That is very true. Juutilainen said you were asking for a bit of money. Is there something you need to buy back home that makes you have to come here?"

Iwasaki nodded, "Yes. A very good friend of mine is ill, and only magic can aid her. Mages charge the coffers of entire towns for their services."

With how good healing felt, I'd pay plenty of money for that. It was so noble of her to do something like that though. This time I said something, "It sounds like you're a very good person, Iwasaki. If I live to see tomorrow, I will write a song on the piano about you for all to hear. I'll just have to embellish some of the details to make it more interesting."

She chuckled, "I never thought to make a song about the stuff I've done. I play the piano as well."

I gasped and smiled madly, "Three piano players together tonight! How wonderful! Now all I need to do is find a tsabouna player…"

As the day drew closer to night, fog was beginning to creep in on us. The sun was nearly gone from the sky and I felt an unexplainable sense of power in this place around me. It was already getting dark, with the few scattered trees around us casting long, black shadows over the ground. With all the fog and darkness, I was sure that visibility soon was going to be just about nil. Cherry was becoming restless, but Iwasaki remained impeccable.

"T-Tea time now?" I stuttered.

"Not yet."

She kept her head hanging low, but I was sure she knew exactly what she was doing. I was also sure there was nothing to be afraid of. Nobody, not even the undead, attacked the girl who came along to provide refreshments. If they promised to not kill me, I'd share some with them too. The undead also tended to eat people, Mugi's included, so I really had to be careful with whom I offered snacks to here. This also reminded me of my junior high friend Miyuki when I heard her discussing in depth the best way to eviscerate a human carcass for consumption with our other friend, Sakaki. I think my name had come up when discussing her list of people she would eat in the event of a societal collapse. It didn't surprise me all that much that a graveyard would remind me more than once of her.

And the moon had come out, with a few stars twinkling through the thicket of clouds above us. The fog had come in thick, and it really felt like I was in _Feeding a Dream_. I heard something moan in the distance. The noise made me gasp and grab onto Iwasaki.

"Wh-what was that?" I managed to ask.

"Wind going through an old tree." She answered nonchalantly.

Then I heard something snap, like a neck getting broken. Or someone getting eaten in one bite.

"And what was t-that?" I held onto her tighter.

"Me cracking my knuckles."

"Oh, okay. Wait, what was that other noise I just heard?" I clutched her even tighter.

Iwasaki sighed, but didn't shrug me off, "Tsumugi, I'll tell you if a noise you hear is worth worrying about. My ears are as good as yours."

"R-right." I nervously chuckled, and let go of her. I took the sheath of my katana and held it tightly in both hands. The notion of me actually defending myself with it was silly, but it made me feel just a bit better. My companion stood up and brushed herself off. I was going to ask where she was going, but a spine chilling howl rang out across the graveyard. It sounded like a hound, or a hound from Hell . The noise was hollow, mournful, and probably the most terrifying thing I had ever heard. I moaned in fear and hugged Iwasaki's leg while shutting my eyes.

"Someone woke the dead." She whispered. That was not something I wanted to hear her say.

"What-? "

"Shh." She silenced me, "Listen."

Keeping my eyes shut, I did what she said and simply listened. At first all I heard was wind and a few other sounds that sounded to me like something moving through the grass from far away. I waited for a whole minute and was wondering just what she was telling me to listen for. Hopefully it wasn't whatever had made that awful howl. Instead, a completely different sound graced my ears. The sound of someone singing.

Whoever was singing had the voice of an angel. It was a girl singing, and she sounded younger than me. It was distant, and I had to struggle to hear it well from atop this hill. I recognized the tune though, being that I could play it proficiently on the piano. It was Beethoven's _Moonlight Sonata_, and this girl was singing the melody of it. Every note I heard felt like she was putting the entirety of her soul into it.

"Is that a ghost?" I whispered, feeling a chill wash over me.

My eyes opened and I saw Iwasaki curtly shake her head, "No. She's just as human as either of us. Come, follow me now."

I did so while holding her hand. Cherry the friendly border collie lead the way, since the mist had done so much to limit visibility. Beyond that beautiful song, I heard all sorts of sounds around me now. Faint whispers, the occasional sorrowful moan, and what sounded like something quite big moving around far away from here.

As we walked, Iwasaki was able to sense my mounting fear and kindly explained to me, "The sounds you hear around you are the spirits of those who were not able to depart to either Asgard or Hel . Normally they are dormant, but they're reacting to a powerful force that has been stirred up. Once I defeat that being, they should rest easy. Fear not, only the one I need to defeat can harm us in anyway."

"Okay." I meekly replied, keeping my eyes on the ground. Being surrounded by the restless dead was the kind of thing that would make you question your own mortality and what lay beyond. I felt almost envious for those in this world, since they all seemed to know exactly what happened after death. Long story short, I didn't think about my own mortality at all.

The song was louder now, and I could hear every note perfectly. It was haunting to listen to, and fit this eerie atmosphere in my opinion. That wasn't exactly a good thing. Then she came into view, and I found myself just a little surprised, even if I knew she was going to be here with us. Litvyak sat on the edge of a mausoleum's roof, singing her song to us, the dead, the moon, and anyone or anything else that was fortunate enough to hear it. She may have been one of the dead with just how out of place she looked against the spooky backdrop; with her white hair and pale skin adding to the look even more. She wore a black and white dress shirt, complete with cuffs, coattail, a nice collar, and tie. Over it was a black corset that didn't do much to accent her curves. Her legs were clad in black stockings, which were a stark contrast to Juutilainen's own white ones, and she had a black shirt as well. In her hands was a conductor's wand, which she gently swayed back and forth like she was conducting those dead souls that inhabited this place.

"Company." Iwasaki spoke up. She drew her katana and took a stance, holding the blade so it was level with her neck, along with her elbow. I'd seen people in tournaments use that stance before, so I think she knew what she was doing. Wait… Company? What did that mean?

Then that awful howl rang out again. This time loud enough to make my ears ring. It was followed by the sounds of something stampeding towards us, and Cherry barking madly. I fell to my knees, and Sword-chan took her place as my ever vigilant guardian. Out of the fog, I saw a pair of red eyes almost five meters off the ground quickly moving through the mist at us. Iwasaki kept her stance and Litvyak continued to sing. She sang as she hopped down from the mausoleum.

On either side of her head were these translucent green, magical looking brackets. I don't know what they were for, but they reminded me of the radio antennae of Russian night planes in World War 2.

I wasn't crying, so I had that going for me as all of this was happening. I still couldn't see what was coming at us though. Litvyak gracefully flicked her wand and pointed it towards this unknown menace. A bright burst of flame erupted from it and sped towards those red eyes like a shooting star. There was a pause, and I instantly rethought my simile when I realized it was more like a predator missile. The fog parted in the way of the stream of fire, and through that parting I was able to witness an explosion of white and yellow fire. The back draft from the explosion could be felt, and it was followed by another ear piercing howl by the unseen horror. I couldn't see the red eyes anymore.

Litvyak played a 4/4 measure with her conductor's wand and gently flicked it again. Four explosions rang out and illuminated the night around us. Each explosion was positioned just next to the other to cover the most ground. They were big fireballs that could have probably leveled an entire house with their force. The fear of fighting such a monster was starting to quell itself now that I knew what Litvyak was capable of. She had a conductor's want that blew stuff up.

"Stop." Iwasaki said to Litvyak, and sheathed her katana.

For some reason, I was now exhausted and struggling to catch my breath. I wiped cold sweat off my brow and asked, "Did you get it?"

Litvyak shook her head, and spoke in her quiet, gentle voice, "No. I missed each one." Her brackets turned purple, "It's moved to the far side of the graveyard."

"You…missed?" I could only blink.

"Yes," She nodded, "I'm sorry I couldn't be of more use."

"No, that's not what I meant!" I quickly corrected myself, "With how much fire and explosion I saw, I was just surprised to hear that anything could have dodged that."

It was Iwasaki who answered to that, "It's just toying with us I think. The only way we could get any sort of strike against it would be to attack while it was attacking us. That way it wouldn't be able to flee the way it does."

"Are you certain as to what it is?" Litvyak asked her.

"Yes," Iwasaki turned back to the hill we had walked down, "I've heard only rumors about such a monster, but I believe we're facing one right now. It's a thing created out of pure malice, hate, and spite, and rarely appears in this world. The Abyssal word for it is _Zakrein'da_, or in Aibureidon- _Charnel hound_. It would explain the daylight deaths. The charnel hound is adverse to daylight, but can still operate in it."

I placed my finger on my chin and tried to remember just what charnel meant. So I asked, "Hey um, Litvyak, Iwasaki, what does the world _Charnel_ mean again?"

"On it's own it means nothing," Iwasaki replied, "The name _charnel hound _is derived from _charnel house_. A charnel house is a grisly place where human skeletons are housed in mass graves. Do you know anything of them, Litvyak?"

"I do." She answered. Iwasaki began marching back up the hill, and we followed her since she probably knew what she was doing. Litvyak continued, "The major of my unit had her parents taken from her by one. She told me that they're just one evil spirit using the collected remains of many people as a vessel."

"That's _really_ creepy." I whined, shaking more now than ever. "Are you sure we're going to be okay, Iwasaki?"

She nodded, "I brought the proper materials to perform an exorcism against such a thing. All we have to do is get past the remains it uses as armor. Your magic and my silver bullets should be able to take care of it."

"Sword-chan can help too!" I volunteered my metal mate for the mission.

Sword-chan didn't reply because she was a sword and swords couldn't talk.

"That reminds me…" Iwasaki began as we made it back to the little picnic area I had set up, "…Tsumugi, that's your first name right?"

"It is."

"Iwasaki is my surname. Call me Minami if you like." She offered.

I smiled, "Okay, I'll do that. "

"Then you two can call me Sanya too." Litvyak added. We both agreed, and I then realized that was probably the first time I had even heard her first name.

"That reminds me, Minami-chan plays the piano as well." I told Sanya.

"Pleased to meet you then." The little white haired girl giggled and shook Minami's hand. Her small, pale hand contrasted strongly against Minami's gloved one. I could tell they would have been good friends if Minami didn't have to leave after this. Those strange brackets turned a bright blue, and Litvyak's eyes perked up.

Minami saw this and reacted, "A new development."

She nodded, "The hound is…looking for something."

"Us?" Iwasaki inquired.

"I hope so."

I didn't think the monster coming at us was a good thing at all. But Sanya had a conductor's wand that shot fireballs, so I felt just a little safer. I wondered if she could use it to conduct orchestras and do awesome pyrotechnics. The brackets were still confusing me, but I was getting the feeling that she was using it to monitor the hound's movements. So I asked about it, "Hey, Sanya, if you don't mind me asking. What are those things around your head?"

"These?" Her brackets flashed all the colors of the rainbow, and I nodded. "They appear when I use my magic to see and hear things from far away. Since they often frighten people, it's part of the reason I patrol at night."

"I think they look kind of cool though…" I admitted, and then remembered something, "…oh, right, the people here don't like witches, do they?"

Sanya shook her head, and sighed, "No, they do not. All Sentinels are capable of magic one way or another though. It's a good thing that the people of Sakuragyfli don't know that."

"They don't even know that Mio is a witch too." I added, hoping that wasn't supposed to be a secret or anything. So Sanya could extend her senses to godlike proportions with her magic, and shoot fireballs with her wand. Mio could cast destructive spells and heal…then what was Eila's special power? I don't think you needed to be a wizard to hit, insult, and trip people. Maybe you did though? I was incapable of doing any of those three things myself, so maybe that was her use of magic. For witches being scorned, she was sure open about using those powers then.

"That reminds me!" I exclaimed, not sure what had triggered me to remember this, "I brought snacks to eat while we wait for that charnel construct of corpses to come around!"

Eating buttered biscuits atop a spook hill in an equally spooky cemetery was a bit awkward, but it did wonders to keep my mind off the situation at hand. I had come along to provide refreshments and had done a good job of doing so thus far. I really hoped that I wouldn't die though, because dying for providing snacks seemed, well…wasteful. More wasteful than dying in other ways at least. Going out in some heroic sacrifice didn't sound all that bad, but only if the stakes warranted it.

After nearly a half hour of calmness, Minami spoke up. She sounded a bit frantic, "Wait, where's Cherry?"

"Isn't she…" I looked around, and saw no white dog sitting with us.

Sanya's green brackets appeared, and she whispered, "I can find her…" We waited a moment, "…She's wandering around the far side of the cemetery. Don't worry; she's far away from the other hound."

Minami sighed a sigh of relief, as did I. Cherry was a nice dog, seeing something happen to her would have been awful. Minami seemed restless though, her eyes constantly darting around, and her fingers drumming off the hilt of her katana. After a few more minutes, she asked, "What's it doing?"

"Pacing." Sanya answered, "Just…pacing… That's strange; it's not pacing around us, just pacing in general."

"Does it see us as a threat?" Minami suggested.

Sanya lightly shrugged, "I don't think it's smart enough to determine our strength, but it's possible."

"Then I saw we bring the fight to it." The mint haired mercenary stood up, brushing crumbs off her duster.

"S-Should I stay here?" I asked. The very notion of being alone here was enough to make my bladder feel just a little weaker.

"It may come after you if you're alone." Sanya replied, "I think it's best if you stay with us. For safety."

"For safety." I repeated. Part of me really didn't actually want to see what a charnel hound actually looked like though.

Sanya stood up as well, followed by me, and Iwasaki gave her a curt bow. "Lead on. I'll engage the monster in melee. I don't think it will flee from me, but if it does, I can use my rifle. Do you have a wand that won't harm me?"

"I do." Sanya nodded, and produced another conductor's wand from the little brown belt pouch she had at her skirt. I didn't see any physically possible way it could have fit in there, but I just assumed it was magic.

So off we went back down the happy hill of safety into the horrible graveyard of unhappiness and potential death. It then dawned on me that we were walking _towards the giant hound made of corpses that could dodge fireballs_. I stopped walking and felt like I needed something for security, _anything_. Pickles the Cat was gone, and he was normally what I latched onto when I was scared.

"C-Could you two hold my hands?" I ended up asking, hoping I did sound too childish.

They kindly obliged my request and tightly held my hands from either side. Minami was on my left, with Sanya on my right. I really did appreciate how patient they were being with me, and I wondered if they were at all scared about this place either. It was hard to see how they wouldn't be, especially since Sanya was only 13 or 14 years old. Now that I thought about it, Minami didn't look much older than me either. I don't know, I was bad at guessing ages.

Sanya began humming her song, and it worked like a lullaby to soothe my wracked nerves. It was so gentle, yet spooky, but it made me feel just a little bit worse. Too bad it only went on for about twenty seconds before her brackets appeared, this time a deep red.

"It's coming." Sanya whispered.

Minami let go of me, and drew her sword again; ready to meet the hound. I could hear it charging through the mist, trampling the ground underneath. Sanya continued her song, flicking her conductor's wand and sending a fireballs exploding in the distance.

"Did you get it that time?" I asked her, still clutching her one free hand.

Sanya nodded, "Yes, but it wasn't injured. Something about it is protecting it from magic."

"That's really bad. Isn't it?" I meekly asked.

"Yes. Yes it is."

Out of the mist, I saw those two red, burning eyes. Iwasaki was slowly stepping forward to meet the charge, and I prayed for her safety. Then I saw the thing that we were up against, galloping from the fog towards Minami. There it was now, in full view. A five meter high hound composed of skeletons, corpses and carrion with two blazing red eyes. Its teeth were blackened spikes that must have come from some horrible thing I had never seen; assuming they came from another creature like the rest of its body. It snarled as it charged, sending another chill down my spine as a clutched Sanya's hand even tighter.

Minami was quick, side stepping its massive biting maw and ducking underneath one of those wicked, blood stained claws. The other paw swiped at her, but thankfully didn't tear at her flesh or anything. Instead it just knocked her back a bit. _Meat Hook Sodomy _by _Cannibal Corpse_ now played instead of Sanya's song because it was much more fitting battle music. Minami was pushed back on the defensive over and over again, having to duck and roll to avoid being butchered, and pressing the palm of her hand against the flat of her blade to better block.

I was too afraid to move from my spot. The sight of the abomination was bad enough, but I could _hear _it too. A hundred people of all ages moaning and crying at once. It was something I could hear out loud, but more of something that was echoing in my soul from the thing. The bodies it was composed of were all writhing too. The charnel hound was just so utterly loathsome and horrible that part of me refused to believe something so sinisterly evil could even exist.

Sanya wasn't moving either, and I nervously peered over to make sure she was still alright. Her magical brackets were a bright red, and shimmering slightly. She was shaking badly, and breathing in and out slowly; eyes wide open. Why I had thought that a girl several years younger than me would be able to handle this was now beyond me. Her conductor's wand was shaking in her hand, and it looked like she was too afraid to even lift it now. I couldn't blame her, and I felt the same way, but if we didn't do something then she'd be conducting from the grave soon.

"_Damn it, help me!_" Minami shouted at us, a stark contrast from her normal, flat voice. The charnel hound batted her backwards with its enormous carrion sculpted paw, sending her stumbling backwards and tripping over a gravestone. Now she was prone. Sanya was still paralyzed by fear. Cherry had run off. That left…me.

Sword-chan was off my back and dashing forward before I even had to say anything. She intercepted the charnel hound mid bite, stopping it from making a meal of Minami. The flat of the blade pressed against either side of its mouth like a muzzle. The monster howled and bit wildly at the air, but was momentarily distracted.

"Just going to borrow this…" I whispered, despite my fear, and took the conductor's wand from Sanya's hand. I swished it like I was conducting a band playing in 4/4 time, and was rewarded with a pleasant result. A bolt of fire shot forth straight up, and exploded in the air like a 60mm shell going off above us.

That was right, I had to aim. I had to aim fast because the charnel hound was looking at me.

_One-two-three-and- four! _

A miniature sun appeared in front of me as I managed to stop the charnel hound from coming after me. It howled and snarled with its dreadful sound, and but staggered back a bit after taking a fireball to the face. However, I couldn't see any discernable damage done to it. That didn't stop me from conjuring up another ball of fire while humming Beethoven's Symphony #9 to myself. It had been beautiful when Sanya did it, but I was in my pajamas and it was really hard to be beautiful in pajamas.

This sun I created was accompanied by a crack thunder and a bolt of lightening striking the carrion sculpted demon. A quick glance to my side, and I saw Sanya standing there with her other wand. She was still shaking a bit, but her expression was determined one. I nodded, and we attacked in unison once more.

Bits and pieces of corpse and bone flew from the charnel hound and landed around us. I heard gunshots, and glanced over to see Minami crouched and taking shots with her rifle. This was it, with the three of us and Sword-chan now hacking at it, we were standing a chance. The beast howled again, loud enough so I couldn't hear my own thoughts, and sprinted off into the distance. Within seconds it was invisible in the fog.

I heard Minami's rifle make the distinctive _*PLING* _M1 Garand's made when the chamber was empty. Sanya conducted one more bolt of lightening before stopping. Her brackets turned green.

"It's stealing from graves." She told us in a worried tone.

"What does that mean?" I asked, and handed her the wand back. She shook her head, signaling me to hold onto it.

If there was anything I had to make sure to do, it was to _not_ let Miyuki ever get her hands on this item ever. Some people joke about wanting something like this, but they never actually mean it. This girl seemed like the type to actually use it to kill people.

"It's rebuilding itself." Sanya quietly told me.

Minami limped over to us, while reloading her rifle. I gasped when I saw that she was bleeding from the corner of her mouth. I rushed to her side and instantly offered myself as human crutch. She winced as I slid under her arm to support her. From where I was standing, it looked like she could barely stand.

"Are you going to be alright for now, or should we go back to town?" I asked her.

"I'll be fine." She said through gritted teeth, "Just a few fractures, I can still go on."

"Sanya said it was rebuilding itself though!"

"I know." Minami tried to struggle away from me, but I didn't think she was well enough to stand on her own. I kept holding onto her. She elbowed me in the chest and broke free of me, "Let's get after it before it can rebuild itself."

"But you're hurt!" I grabbed her by the elbow, "What if the fireballs don't stop it and it comes after you? You can barely stand, how can you dodge it?"

"That doesn't matter." She retorted, still stepping forward.

"Yes it does!" I cried out, refusing to her let go any further. People weren't going to get hurt as long as there was something I could do about it. I grabbed onto her elbow with both my hands and held on firmly, stopping her from going any further.

Minami turned to face me now. Under the moonlight, with the blood running from the corner of her mouth, her presence was now frightening. With on hand on my shoulder, she spoke, "Injuries or not, we need to press on and end this one way or another. Look at the bigger picture Tsumugi. This monster originates in Midgard, and the Sentinels don't deal with local threats. Nobody for hundreds of miles is capable enough to defeat something like this, especially if it gathers more and more bodies. Think of what it could become if we don't stop it now."

"But…" I didn't have an argument for that. I didn't like this, I didn't like this at all, but there didn't seem to be any other choice. So I sighed, "There really isn't any other way, is there?"

Sanya was the one who replied to me, "Maybe, if we gathered everyone in Sakuragyfli who has magical talents, it could be banished."

Minami nodded, "It's possible, I suppose, but how would we be able to invoke a ritual on something that's moving around? Wait…where does it go during the day?"

"From what I've seen during my night patrols- during the day, it buries itself in the graveyard and hides beneath the ground. The shell of bodies it uses is still with it, so you wouldn't be able to exorcise it normally with the spirit so protected." She explained.

"So that means…" I began, but didn't know what that meant.

"…It means that we need to find out where exactly it rests. Can your magic find it, Sanya?" Minami asked her.

Sanya shook her head, "No, I haven't ever been able to find where it rests in the day. It's almost like it ceases to exist during the day. I've never really tried to track it though, because it knows when I do so. I'm sorry, but I was too afraid to follow it at night until dawn, because it may have attacked me if I did."

"Your safety comes first. Don't feel bad for not following it earlier, especially if you didn't know what it was." I told her. She seemed a bit saddened to admit that. I guess nobody ever told her that being afraid was natural.

Minami nodded in agreement, "We'll follow it now though. Don't be afraid, we won't let it hurt you."

Sanya gave a nervous smile and bowed, "I will do my best, thank you."

Her brackets turned blue and the hunt began.

Cherry quickly rejoined us with all her white, fluffy glory. We kept just in range for her to monitor its movements, and were able to keep it from leaving the graveyard. The three of us angled ourselves so that it kept moving away from us, away from Sakuragyfli. Sanya had coordinated our movements perfectly to accomplish this. This went on for an entire six hours, until I was so tired and dead on my feet that I just wasn't afraid of anything anymore. Tiredness overcame fear, which was a good thing since it would make sleep so much easier when I finally was able to get some rest. Only a few skirmishes broke out between us and the charnel hound. Eventually it would get too close and then Sanya and Minami would start firing at it before I could even see the thing. Sword-chan helped out too. We didn't deal any real damage to it, but we remained safe and kept it on the defensive.

The sun was beginning to rise, and I was on the verge of sleepwalking.

"Here." Sanya said, pointing at the stone mausoleum we had met her on at the beginning of the night.

"Alright." Minami nodded. She was looking unhealthily pale, so I was going to recommend her to Mio for healing after this. I didn't understand what they were talking about though.

"What's here?" I asked.

"It." Sanya simply replied.

Oh, I knew what that meant. The charnel hound had chosen that spot to hide out for the day. There weren't any signs of corpses or bones that it had been using though, or even the ground being disturbed. It looked like it had just merged with the soil like a fish swimming through water. So that was it then, the night was over and I was still alive. Minus the nerve wracking anxiety, it hadn't been _all _that bad. Except for seeing the charnel hound up close, I almost wasn't able to handle that.

"Time to go home then?" I gave them a hopeful smile.

"Yes." Sanya smiled back. I had to stifle laughter from relief.

The three of us began our walk back, step by weary step. Sanya seemed not to mind the hike though, being used to it with all her night patrols. The graveyard had become so familiar to me over night, and with the fog clearing, it seemed kind of abnormal now. Before, it had been this terrifying myriad of shadows and shapes I couldn't discern, but now it was just a grassy plot of land with tombstones. It was now spooky because it wasn't spooky anymore. A paradox of sorts.

"Mugi!" I heard someone call out. It took my tired mind a moment to recognize it as being Mio. I saw her running down hill from Sakuragyfli in that purple and gold dress I like so much. It was…_bouncy_. Yikes, my tired mind liked roaming into inappropriate places. Wait, what was Mio doing here? I was going to ask before she grabbed me into a tight, Mugi crushing hug.

"I was so afraid you would be killed!" She cried, with tears threatening to break free. "Why do you keep doing things like this Mugi? What would make you come with these two to such an awful place?"

That was a really good question on her part. I answered, "I felt like I could help here, so I went with them. Minami-chan and Sanya kept me safe though."

Mio let go of me and bowed to the two of them, "I cannot thank you two enough for seeing her safe."

Sanya giggled and smiled, "You're welcome!"

"She proved to be more helpful than Juutilainen let on." Minami said more to herself than to Mio.

The raven haired noble breathed a sigh of relief and wiped tears from her eyes. As the four of us walked back, she asked, "So…how did it go?"

"No progress was made in a practical sense." Minami answered, and continued before Mio could properly express her surprise, "We found a way to drive it out though, or so we believe. We'll discuss it after a proper meal and once my wounds are tended. Gather all your Sentinels and any mages you can though."

"A ritual?" Mio mused.

"Yes."

Mio grabbed me by my wrist, "Come, I believe you have earned a rest. You shall sleep in my quarters as opposed to the filthy reindeer furs that Ritsu would have you sleep in."

"I…uh… thank you!" I stammered as she dragged my tired self along. We got back into town as people were beginning their day. Apparently we made a lot of noise last night with the fireballs, but members of the militia were already explaining what had happened. They had apparently caught word of our doings quickly. No one had been killed that night, so spirits were raised all around. I hoped nobody called me a hero or anything for this. Sanya did most of the work; they should have been praising her.

If they wanted to reward me with warm clothes though, I would gladly accept that.

Sanya was behind us, since she shared a private bunkroom with Eila in the castle, near the militia. The three of us were heading up the slope when the youngest of us was greeted with a cheer.

"Sanya!" Eila called from at the gates. She had returned from Varyag awfully quickly. The white haired Sentinel sprinted down to her friends and grabbed her into a tight hug. Both of them laughed as they embraced. It was heart warming, and it was a side of Eila I would have liked to see more of.

"Did you kill the charnel hound?" She asked right away.

_How did she know about that though?_ I could only wonder.

Sanya gently shook her head, "No, but we think we found a way. We'll need your help though, if that's alright."

"Of course it's alright; you don't even need to ask." Eila replied, and they followed Mio and I back up. I gladly listened in on their conversation because the obvious romantic involvement between them was making my heart flutter.

"How was Varyag?" Sanya asked her.

"Pretty fun actually. I got to see everyone from our team again. They're all doing great and said they miss you. I even got to bring back a care package with some new ordinance. Sentinels there gave me royal treatment and let me travel in luxury."

"Luxury?"

"They teleported me back. How cool is that?" Eila laughed. I casually glanced back and saw her holding Sanya's hand. The older Sentinel continued, "I'll tell you the rest after we both get some sleep. I was up all night, just like you. I hope I can get our sleep schedules parallel again."

"Was there any bad news?" Sanya asked.

Eila gave a nervous laugh, "Well, you know how things are, right? Let's just say that the negotiations in the Abyss didn't go over so well. Don't worry about that though, it's not going to involve us."

"That's good." I heard Sanya whisper. The uneasiness was written all over her tone. I didn't know what was going on with the Sentinels, but it was probably just another one of this worlds many problems.

A rest was exactly what I needed. Whatever politics involved Sentinels or rituals just melted away as I dreamed of playing by tsabouna on a rocky shore on a beautiful, sunny day. I missed the sun very much, and wondered just where I had learned to play the tsabouna. While I knew how to play many traditional instruments, they were all Japanese. Tomorrow was going to be a rough day though, and I needed my sleep since I was going to be facing eldritch horrors and other fun things.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**Author's Notes- **_and I'm finally finished. Nothing to rate M yet, so the rating is staying as it is. I worked so hard and long on this chapter that I don't even know if it's any good at this point. I at least hope that it was worth your time to read, and any feedback is much appreciated. The next chapters should be a lot more entertaining, especially the body switching one that I have planned up._

_Fun fact- Charnel hounds in Dungeons and Dragons are absolute nightmares to deal with. Being that this story is primarily D&D based, I thought some players may be interested in some of the game play mechanics. If this were a D&D game, that charnel hound would have turned the three of them into Swiss cheese in probably 20 seconds flat. If we're going by game play mechanics, Tsumugi is what I would gauge to be a 2__nd__ level expert with about 6 hit points. A charnel hound deals about 74-128 damage._

Starasp the Beta-Reader here, I can vouch for the above.

Tastychainsaws the author here, he watched his comrade get torn apart and ingested by it.


	8. Eight of Swords

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 8**

**EIGHT OF SWORDS**

**(**_**All the cool kids are reviewing, you should too!)**_

"Eila, Sanya, Mio-chan told me to come get you two!" I said to provide exposition, while opening the door to the room they called their own. It was a roomy chamber near the militia barracks that was darkly lit with several candles burning, ablaze with purple fire. The room was a clear indicator about their hidden magical abilities with its colored flames and strange trinkets lying about. Some kind of burning incense could be smelled, and the aroma left me feeling a bit drowsy. My eyes caught sight of a full sized mirror against one wall. It reminded me a lot of the one I had in my room back home. It was almost the exact same model and everything. Seeing that brought a feeling of nostalgia to me.

"You could always knock, you know," Eila muttered as she was finishing pulling her tights up around her waist.

"I'm sorry, it completely slipped my mind." I blushed, "Sorry for intruding."

"It's okay," Sanya assured me. She was already dressed and ready to go. The two of them were sitting on the bottom bed of a bunk bed. I wondered who got the top, or if they ever fought over it. I had seen friendships ruined over fighting for the top bunk. Maybe they would get into a fight, and then one of them would really feel bad about it.

_"Oh, Sanya, our fight was just so silly wasn't it?" Eila would blush._

_ "You can have the top bunk then, Eila, I don't mind anymore," Sanya would offer._

_ "Maybe we can…share the bed?" The older white haired girl suggested. Although using the phrases 'Eila' and 'older' felt a little weird since Juutilainen was only about 15 years old. I'm not sure if the Sentinels had the right idea with using child labor in this manner._

_ "But I don't have my pajamas, and my underwear is still being washed," Sanya would remind her._

_ "I guess it can't be helped. We'll both have to sleep naked."_

Wait, I had come in here for a reason…

It was just before sunset now, and the others were already heading down the graveyard to begin with whatever they were going to do. Mio, Yui, Eila, and Sanya would all channel their magic in some kind of ritual to banish it. Minami and I were going to take part as conductors to form a better circle. 'Perfectly safe,' as Mio put it. I trusted her word over anyone else's here. I had gotten a good day's sleep, but was a bit worried that I would become nocturnal with the way I kept ending up staying up all night.

"Meow," Pickles the Cat said from atop the dresser the two girls shared. Next to him was a black cat that seemed itty bitty against his ten kilogram frame.

"There you are!" I exclaimed, since I hadn't seen him since Cherry had scared him off the day before. I turned to Sanya and Eila and blushed again. "Oh, I hope he hasn't been a bother to you two."

Eila stood up and stepped over to him. "He actually gets along well with Foks here."

"Meow," Foks, the _other_ cat said.

She went to pet Pickles the Cat, but he intercepted her hand and bit down. "Ouch! Damn it, that's the third time he's done that! How is he able to even do that?"

"I'm so sorry. He's not normally like this!" I lied and quickly rushed to her aid. Eila grumbled something and stepped away from me, clutching her bleeding hand. I turned to Pickles the Cat and bopped him on the head. "No! Bad! We don't bite people who are arguably my friend!"

Pickles the Cat purred contently.

"He's sitting on my tarot cards," The cat bite victim pouted.

"You're just getting into all sorts of trouble, aren't you?" I sighed at my furry friend. He took his place inside my shirt again, head poking out of the collar like normal.

"Hmm…" Eila hmm'd while eying me down, then glanced at Sanya. "Hey Sanya, think we should try that with our own familiars?"

"I don't think we could," Sanya answered.

Eila then began unbuttoning her blue jacket. "You're right. The collar is too tight for that."

"That's not what I meant," Sanya told her.

Under her blue jacket was a loose white tank top that left her midsection completely exposed, but it was thick enough to obscure her more saucy parts. She looked around and whistled sharply. "Mirri! Come here Mirri!"

"Mirri?" I repeated.

"Every mage needs a familiar. Duh," she sort of clarified. Apparently familiars were what the magic using type called their pets. Just as I began trying to think of what kind of pet Eila would have, a little black fox gracefully crawled out from under the bed. I had thought black foxes were genetically altered though, which made me questions this world's potential technology.

"_Kawaii!_" I blurted out, unable to contain myself. It was so slender and adorable, and I wanted to just pick it up and cuddle with it.

Eila picked up the fox, Mirri, and cradled it her arms. Her eyes darted around nervously, and she quickly told me, "Uh, according to our lease, we're technically not supposed to have animals here. Mind not telling our landlord this?"

"Your secret's safe with me," I assured her. In all honestly, I had no idea who the landlord was. I assumed it was Lord Akiyama, which would explain why Mio didn't have a familiar since pets weren't allowed.

"Okay Mirri, if this works, you won't have to be all cooped up in here all day." She gently placed the fox in her tank top. Its head popped out the top, and it had quite the look of confusion about it. She let go and Mirri promptly fell out onto the ground, dashing away to go hide. Eila gave me a look to kill, and pointed at Pickles the Cat.

"_How?_" She pretty much snarled.

"How what?" I didn't understand.

"You have a large cat sitting comfortably in your shirt, just sitting there. How is that possible at all?"

I thought for a moment, and then realized that I never really thought about it. He wasn't latching on to my shirt with his claws or anything like that. I removed him from my shirt and held him out to Eila. "Want to try and see if he'll stay in yours?"

"This is weird," Sanya remarked.

Eila gave a defeated sigh and took Pickles the Cat. She didn't say anything as she slid my furry friend into her shirt. Pickles the Cat's claws latched onto the neck of her tank top, and gravity went to work. He fell down the floor, but effectively managed to tear her entire shirt in half, and it immediately fell off her body into ribbons at her feet. She instantly covered herself with her arms before I could get even the slightest glance. Phooey.

"_Get out!_" Eila screamed at me.

"I'm so sorry!" I cried, and gathered the fiendish feline into my arms. "I didn't know that he would do that…um…um… here take my shirt as payment for what he did to yours!"

I hadn't really thought that over well, and wasn't thinking about how I didn't have anything under my t-shirt as I started taking it off with Pickles the Cat under my free arm. At least she wouldn't be mad at me if I gave a peace offering.

"Why are you two taking off your clothes around me?" Sanya asked.

"_Just get out!_" Eila screamed again, and threw a pillow straight at me. The fluffy comfort giving device hit me square in the face, slamming me into the wall behind.

"Oof!" I oof'd, and was momentarily dazed.

"_Out!_" She threw another pillow, then a coffee mug (which shattered against the wall), then a throwing knife that came awfully close to my head. Seeing the sharp implement of war sticking out of the stone wall behind me, I took that as an indicator to _leave_. I quickly shuffled out the door and closed it behind me. Pickles the Cat was purring in my arms. I sighed and he took his place in my shirt.

"Kitty, what were you even doing in there?" I had to ask as I began my walk to meet up with Mio and the others. Part of me really wanted some time to spend with them doing fun stuff that didn't involve rituals or charnel hounds, but Mio was always so busy. Ritsu was usually off delivering messages far away, and Mio had her noble duties to attend to. I still had Yui, but she was generally reclusive and ignored my presence. What I really needed was Azusa, but this world was sadly Azusa free so far.

"Meow," Pickles the Cat replied.

"Really? Did you two hit it off well?" I asked him.

"Meow."

"My, my, sounds like Foks is one lucky girl kitty." I chuckled. My little kitten was now becoming a man it looked like. I at least hoped that I would get invited to be a bridesmaid at their wedding. That was wishful thinking though, since they only had one date. I wondered what Sanya felt about her own kitty possibly becoming romantically involved with my own. As someone who loved love, I really hoped their kitty relationship blossomed and prospered. Although, I didn't think cats were capable of romantic involvement beyond basic reproduction. Pickles the Cat wasn't exactly normal though.

Something was different today though. Something was definitely going on. It was snowing now, which I didn't really like at all since it was getting in my slippers and making my feet cold, but that wasn't what was different. As I walked back down that snowy path to the village, there were at least a dozen militia soldiers following the same commute. Just north of the village, where there was something of a field, I saw at least a hundred soldiers gathered. They weren't wearing Sakuragyfli's standard, the red kanji for 'join'; or any sort of indicator that they belonged to a certain faction. I saw Mio talking with one the armored men at the end of the mountain trail.

She saw me and dismissed the warrior in full metal gear before greeting me. "Ah, Mugi, I trust you were able to sleep well?"

I nodded. "Yes, thank you for asking. If you don't mind me wondering, why are all these people here?"

"Reinforcements from Varyag," She answered with little enthusiasm. "Father hates to have to resort to paying for soldiers, but our militia is down to only a few dozen able bodied men now."

"How many soldiers does Mugitsu have?" I asked just to know if the militia stood a chance of winning. I assumed they would be okay as they were, but it never hurt to be sure.

"Human soldiers? None," Mio answered, and gestured for me to follow her. "However, some of our scouts reported frost giants advancing through the mountains. Varyag was able to lend 400 men, which should be enough to keep Sakuragyfli safe for the time being. If Mugitsu can bring frost giants into Midgard though, we're living on completely borrowed time."

"I'm sure there's a way to win. Don't give up Mio-chan," I told her, trying my best to sound warm and hopeful. If push came to shove, I could always volunteer myself to her cause. Ritsu said that Freyr's Sword was made to kill giants. As long as they didn't squash me with a boulder or chop me in half with one of their axes, I could probably help out plenty.

She sighed and kept her eyes on the ground as we walked; presumably to the graveyard. She sniffled once and told me with a degree of sadness, "If we can't find a way to stop these attacks against Sakuragyfli soon, we're going to have to flee to Aibureido or Varyag again. We've known that this was a possibility for months now, but now that it's becoming a reality, I can't help but feel so much melancholy about it. I'm sorry for troubling you with my problems," Mio awkwardly laughed to herself. "I had actually planned to ask you something much more pleasant."

"It's no trouble, really. I just wish there was something I could do," I replied. The feeling of helplessness everyone was feeling was beginning to seep into me too. Part of me wondered if perhaps the Sentinels, Mio, Ritsu, and I could all band together and make some heroic journey to stop Mugitsu once and for all. Yui and I had already taken on pretty much an entire army. That paired with Mio's magic, Sanya's wands and Ritsu's…what ever Ritsu could do, and we'd be unstoppable. This was something I would bring up with them.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you are free a week from now." Mio had a slight smile on her face, but it looked like she was trying to hide nervousness.

"Assuming I don't get thrown into some wacky situation where I nearly die, I should be," I replied, hoping I didn't get thrown into a wacky situation where I nearly died. I had brushed with death so many times that the Grim Reaper probably had my number on speed dial. It was getting to the point where I could joke about my own mortality like this.

"Well…I was wondering…" Mio was no longer doing a good job hiding her nervousness, "…if you'd like to um, well, go to… this thing…with me…"

"Thing? What kind of thing?" I excitedly asked, hoping it was a fun thing. Fun things were fun.

She lowered her voice, and took me by the hand off the main path and through the snow. "I was invited to the _Magician's Court_ and am allowed to take one guest."

"How l-lovely," I shivered, since I was now standing in fresh, cold snow. Out of curiosity, I glanced at Mio's ring finger and saw one of those red rings that Eila, Sanya, Ritsu, Yui, and just about everyone had to deal with the cold. Of course nobody had offered me one, but who was I kidding? It's not like anyone would actually do something like that. Oh sure, they'd give me a sword, or a wand that blew things up, but something to deal with the ever present cold that made life outdoors completely miserable? What a silly notion.

The cold was starting to take a toll on my mental well being it looked like.

"Oh right. You wouldn't know what the _Magician's Court _is," Mio said to herself, and then explained. "Far away in Lesfain, all the witches and wizards of note in the world are invited to a majestic ball that's the envy of all nobles worldwide." She had gone from incredibly nervous to hardly being able to contain her giggles. "It's held in a pocket dimension created by the archmages just for this event, and they say it's more beautiful than anything else in the world. My father's ex-advisor, a powerful diviner named Lusefarian was the one who invited me. He even sent me a teleport crystal to get us there and back. Oh please, won't you go with me, Mugi?"

"Wait…is this like a…_date_?" I asked without thinking.

_Oh, no, wait, let me redo that! Bad Mugi! This is going to be just like junior high all over again! I say one weird thing and then she keeps away from me._

Mio gasped, blushing with a surprised look on her face. I thought she was going to be offended, and I cringed at her potential response. Instead of slapping me for my possibly inappropriate remark, she actually began smiling and laughing to herself. "I guess it could be a _d-date_…only if you wanted it to be though! I'm sorry! I'm just…not used to such things…"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to fluster you," I blushed, looking the other way.

"No, no, I'm not upset!" She assured me. We were entering the edge of the graveyard now and it wasn't any warmer. Mio pointed up at the sky, towards the first stars beginning to appear in the sky, "See the stars there, Mugi? There are less of them then there were before."

I looked up and couldn't quite tell because I had no point of reference. Since there were no artificial lights from buildings and development, I could see them quite well in the darkening sky. There were patches of the sky that had none though, and I assumed that's what she was talking about. Still, it was a rather sudden conversation change.

"They say that the twins, Skoll and Hati are eating them one by one, and soon they'll eat the moon and sun too, plunging the world into eternal darkness," she continued, giving a melancholic sigh. "In the letter he sent me, Lusefarian also wrote of how eastern Varyag and western Varyag are gathering armies to wage against each other. I think the legends are right, Mugi, the world may be ending…but if it is, I would like to go on just _one_ date before it happens. One date with someone I really admire and treats me right. Someone like you."

Tears swelled in my eyes from her words. They were so romantic, and were directed towards me. It felt surreal to have someone say something like that to me, and really mean it too. At the same time I didn't know what to say because Mio was the girl that Ritsu wanted. Part of me wanted to take her into my arms and accept her beautiful gesture, and show her the night of her life with those mages. I couldn't though, because I had made an oath to Ritsu. As much as it would kill me to do so, I would have to let her down gently. Or just come up with some excuse as to why I couldn't go.

_But what if she thinks I'm rejecting her?_

"I…don't know what to say…" I admitted.

"You don't have to say anything yet." She gave me a comforting smile. "Why don't we finish the ritual and talk about this somewhere else? Somewhere more private."

"Al-alright," I stuttered, now just a little nervous as to how this was going to play out. I had been neglecting my wooing duties for Ritsu, and now it was starting to come back to haunt me.

_Wait…what if I could convince her to go with Ritsu instead?_

Yes…that would work well for everyone. I would just need to find some kind of way to do it subtly without creating any sort strain or schisms between the three of us. For love, I would try my best!

We walked down to the ritual site that Sanya had so kindly found for us all. We were the last ones down, with Eila and Sanya somehow getting there before me. The two of them sat atop the mausoleum while Yui and Minami were chatting idly about katana care and maintenance. They greeted us, and Mio started with asking, "Litvyak, is anyone watching?"

Her brackets flashed green, "No, nobody is aware that we're here."

"Good, good," Mio nodded. "Hirasawa, Juutilainen, are you aiding the soldiers against the giants tonight?"

Yui had been comparing her _Murasame_ too Minami's blade and sheathed it again. "Yes," She answered simply.

Eila shook her head. "Nope, sorry, gotta scrub this one."

"Alright, I suppose that's alright," Mio sighed. "Can you give us a prediction on how this will go?"

She nodded and pulled a tall card from her jacket's belt pouch. "Tarot cards aren't always accurate, but I like to always keep a deck on hand for stuff like this. Let's see what we got here…" She examined the card, and her eyebrows perked up.

"What is it?" Mio asked.

Eila turned the card for us to see. "Eight of swords. This could be interesting."

There was a universal sense of unease about us and nobody said anything. I had seen tarot readings done in my world, but I didn't know what they meant. I hoped the eight of swords wasn't a bad omen. There were only four swords present here though, but that probably didn't have anything to do with the card.

"Is this a negative card?" Minami asked, apparently just as unfamiliar as I was.

"Hard to say," she answered and hopped down off the mausoleum. "It's an individual card, so it could refer to any one of us. The woman on the card is lost, blind, trapped by the eight swords and unable to get home to where she is safe. The eight of swords stands for times when one feels lost or helpless, and serves as a reminder as to how help isn't always far off. Right now, it could mean that this is going to succeed, because the recipient of the card is the spirit we're banishing. Perhaps the tortured soul behind the armor of bones loathes the actions they cause? Who knows? The fortune I was trying to read with it was too vague."

"That sounds like we're supposed to do this," Sanya said.

Mio looked a bit uneasy. "I didn't know it was like that. The charnel hound, I mean. Maybe it really cannot control its actions…"

"There's no way to tell," Minami added, and stood across from everyone. "So, what are Tsumugi and I to do in this?"

"We form a circle, I invoke the magic, and it channels between the six of us, and draws from us four witches," Mio explained, and gestured for us to form a circle, holding hands in front of the mausoleum. Going clockwise, it was Minami, Mio, me, Eila, Sanya, and Yui. I wasn't sure what exactly this was going to entail, since the details were vague. Part of me hoped it didn't involve creepy chanting or bloodletting, or something else that Mio would have conveniently neglected to mention. I didn't think so though, being that she was utterly terrified of things like that and seemed quite calm and confident here.

"Is everyone ready?" Mio asked. We each gave a nod and she continued. "Nobody move until I say so, and don't be afraid if you start feeling a bit funny. There aren't any somatic or vocal incantations involved here either."

In the snowfall, the six of us stood in a circle clasping hands like Celtic pagans giving thanks around a bonfire under moonlight. The wind was picking up, and the snow was falling harder. I struggled to keep my eyes open and to keep still in the biting cold. Around me, the air seemed to hum with an unseen power, and I felt the ground vibrating under me ever so slightly. I couldn't tell if it was because of the ritual, or just the wind in my eyes, but everything seemed to blur around me. I felt light headed, and wanted nothing more than to just sit down. Pickles the Cat was still in my shirt, and he stirred restlessly, but wasn't causing trouble.

That was until a stray raven gave off its death rattle and flew down into in the center of our circle. It stood there, eyeing us all with its beady black eyes, tilting its head ever so slightly. Thin, purple smoke began rising from the snow covered soil in front of us, a sure sign that this was working. I was rather glad that the charnel hound hadn't decided to rise up and eat us all during this.

"Meow," Pickles the Cat said just before doing probably the worst thing he could have done. Cats liked eating birds, and that raven there was certainly a bird. He leaped out from my shirt at his avian adversary, and also managed to rake his hind claws right up my chest; rending my tender, tender skin there into bloody ribbons.

"Kitty!" I cried out as he pounced on the poor bird, breaking its neck instantly with his powerful jaws.

"Shoo, cat, shoo!" Minami shooed him. Pickles the Cat didn't budge.

"Great, now we have to start over!" Eila complained.

I quickly dashed in to grab him and probably give him a good bopping or two on the head. This was not being a good kitty at all. I let go of Eila and Mio's hands, and took a step forward.

"Wait, no, don't break the circle!" Mio frantically shouted at me.

"Huh?" I meekly replied and felt myself trip over something. I had never been much of a klutz, but here I was tumbling face first into the snow, flailing my arms randomly. Pickles the Cat had messed up the ritual, and I had gone and made things even worse. As I fell forward, I really, really hoped they wouldn't yell at me for this.

That purple smoke had become a cloud, and it sure felt like I was taking a long time to just fall embarrassingly onto my face. It took me a moment to realize why that was- _I was still falling_. There was no hard packed snow to greet me here. Instead, I was falling forward into some kind of abyss. Panic instantly overcame me as that feeling of freefalling set it. It was like one of those dreams where you begin falling from a high distance, and the ground is slowly looming towards you like an earthly death sentence. It was like that except everything around me was black and purple, with no sign of any ground or end.

_What if this goes on forever until I die?_

That thought alone was enough to get me screaming as my plummet through the abyss continued.

As quickly as it began, it ended as I hit solid ground, except it wasn't like I was falling at terminal velocity. It was more like I had fallen maybe a meter. So instead of painting the ground with myself, I landed safely on my hands and knees, desperately trying to catch my breath after that ordeal. Pickles the Cat wasn't with me, or my swords for that matter. Wherever I was, I was completely unarmed.

But just where was I?

I didn't even have my eyes open yet, and part of me wasn't sure I wanted to open them. Everything around was _warm_, but yet I still felt wind. That was a sure indicator I wasn't in Sakuragyfli anymore. Maybe I was in Japan again? Part of me hoped that wasn't true, because I wanted a chance to say good bye to everyone before leaving. Feeling a bit braver, I slowly stood up and cracked my eyes open.

_Oh. This isn't somewhere I really want to be…_

My thoughts were a vast understatement. I was standing before wide, translucent green river, with what looked to be the silhouettes of people floating down it. The ground beneath me was hard pan dirt like I was in some never ending flat wasteland. Beside the occasional sickly shrug or stray rocks, this stretch of barren land seemed to go on forever. Except for in the far distance in front of me, where it looked like there were mountains or crumbling buildings.

I heard a noise behind me, like a group of people whispering, following my knuckles cracking. Slowly, fearfully, and dazed in confusion I turned around to see just what was potentially breathing down my neck. Behind me was an unpleasant explanation as to where I was and really how I had gotten here.

Apparently I had tripped forward at _just_ the wrong time and ended up banished to wherever this was. Towering over me was a carrion sculpted hound looking down with malice in its glowing red eyes. The smell coming off of it was enough to make my eyes water. It smelled like sun baked road kill, which added nicely to the overwhelming sense of fear I was feeling. Where was I supposed to go from here? Was this finally the end? If that was so, then…no, no, no, I wasn't ready to die! Especially like this! That couldn't be the end; there was no way that it could all come to a close by sheer accident!

"N-Nice doggy…" I slowly raised my hands in a defensive gesture and took a step back. "I-I'm sorry that m-my friends sent u-us here, but I-I'm sure that we can-"

I was cut off by a swipe of its wicked claws across my body. A swirling explosion of pain detonated across my body, and the wind was blown out of me as I was knocked aside. Just above my waist, the pain was so intense and severe that I couldn't even draw breath to scream from it. I hit the ground on my back, and felt what little breath I had left blown out of me from the force of the slash. I had been thrown several meters from the swipe, and couldn't feel my legs anymore.

My mind couldn't form coherent thoughts as I tried to make some part of my body work. I felt my arms against the ground, but I couldn't raise them, or see any part of myself. All I could see was the churning red sky above me, and choke on the overwhelming taste of metal in my mouth.

Everything went black.

I was either asleep or dead; hopefully the former. Everything was happening too fast now, and the overwhelming sense of confusion and helplessness was starting to border on frustrating.

"_The woman on the card is lost, blind, trapped by the eight swords and unable to get home to where she is safe. The eight of swords stands for times when one feels lost or helpless, and serves as a reminder as to how help isn't always far off."_

Eila's words ran through my head again as my mind drifted in and out of consciousness. I felt the way I did after falling back asleep when I hit the snooze button my alarm clock. I was awake in a way, but completely dead to the world (hopefully not literally). It turned out the eight of swords fit quite well because I was lost, helpless, and felt trapped now. She said something about help not being far off, but unless Mio or someone could have followed me, it looked I was pretty much done for.

I never even got a chance to tell Pickles the Cat that I-

"Good, you're waking." I heard someone say, and rudely interrupt my deathly monologue. Wait, no, that was a good thing, because it meant I wasn't dead. The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't place the name. Slowly, feeling returned to my body, and could tell I was resting on my back against that hardpan dirt. I could hear the water rushing nearby. My eyes fluttered open, and above was the dead, crimson sky; and someone looking down at me with a smile.

Her eyes were a bit narrower than mine, but other than that, she could have been my black haired twin. The shape of her black eye brows, and the color of her blue eyes were completely identical to my own, and I found her strangely beautiful in a way that was a bit vain. I recognized her though, this was the one that everyone in Sakuragyfli wanted dead. Mugitsu.

I gave a sharp gasp, and stuttered, "Y-you're-"

"-supposed to be your enemy? Supposed to be the dreaded death witch who kills all she meets on sight? Going to die for what you did to Sakuragyfli? Are any of these close?" Her tone was exceedingly sarcastic, and I saw her reach back behind her and retrieve something. "If you want to kill me, you'll need something to do it properly."

Onto my lap she dropped the Masamune and Sword-chan; the latter of whom I had forgotten was so heavy. We were at the side of that sickly river, but I saw no sign of the charnel hound that had so kindly attempted to hack me in half. Frantically, I asked the first things that came to mind. "What happened to me? How did I get here? Where is this? Where did you find my swords?"

I rose to a sitting position next to her, and she replied, "Your friends from Sakuragyfli banished my pet here to this dead world. I come to make sure the poor pooch is alright, and then find your butchered body laying inches away from the River of Styx here. Your swords were only about ten meters away, probably scattered when you were sent here. I told the big old puppy to go and leave, and then used a bit of my magic to get you back in one piece."

"But…" Her answer to my questions only opened another myriad of things I wanted to ask. I looked down at my shirt and nearly cried out in shock when I realized that it had been reduced to torn rags and blood was splattered all over my body. My pants, chest, arms, and hands were all stained with the stuff; and not to mention my left breast was now completely exposed for anyone to gawk at. Luckily, it was just girls here and why is this even a concern to me right now?

I cleared my throat and took a deep breath, and tried my best to calmly ask, "…but why would you save me if that _thing_ was your p-pet?"

"Anything for my dear older sister." She gave a hauntingly beautiful smile and cut me off just before I was about to say something. "A clever trick, banishing the hound. So far you've dealt with demons and spirits. I wonder how you'll fare against frost giants! Ah ha, but that doesn't answer your question, does it?"

"N-No, it doesn't." I was trying my hardest not to be intimidated by her. There was something about her that was simply strange. It was like she was actually excited to see me.

Mugitsu stood up and drew her silver sword, prompting me to gasp and scrambled backwards away from her. She laughed again and pointed it at me. "Hold on there, Tsumugi. You don't want to fall into the River of Styx…" I inched away from it when she said that. "…because I don't think I'd be able to fish your soul out of it. Anyway, it's like I said, I don't know why you're with Sakuragyfli or what happened to your memories-"

"I remember everything just fine," I interrupted.

"So you say, yet you cannot recognize the face of your sister?"

"I'm an only child," I insisted.

Mugitsu laughed again and stabbed her blade forward, stopping just before my neck. "Maybe you lost all your memories after our battle? I don't know, but I can't win against you again because my blade has been cursed by Frigga herself so that it may never harm the sister of the wielder. This puts us at an impasse, doesn't it?"

"I don't…know?" I said through exhaling, trying to inch away from her blade. Hopefully what she said there was true, and that it couldn't hurt me.

"It does, dear sister, it really does." She sheathed her sword again and began slowly pacing around me. "I thought long and hard about what I did all those years ago. I regret it, I truly do, but it was _you_ who brought it on yourself. Now you're back and working against my minions and I, with effective results. This ultimately makes you a thorn in my side, and I can't bring myself to kill my own sister. So…" She extended her black armored hand to me, "…I'm offering you a place safely at my side. No killing, I cease what I'm doing here, and we rejoin Odin's court as sisters."

"But I can't leave my friends behind," I told her and mentally cringed in preparation for her response.

"I was afraid you would have become attached," Mugitsu sighed. She reached into a belt pouch of hers and produced and envelope. "I have here an offer of peace to help you make up your mind. If you choose not to come with me, fine, but I keep up my crusade against Sakuragyfli. Take this letter. It holds the directions to a cache of treasure that you may find interesting if you so choose to go back to Sakuragyfli. Take it as proof that I am true to my word, and that you may rejoin me whenever you wish. Among some of the prettier jewelry, there's also an elixir that can remove the melancholy curse that the Sentinel Hirasawa suffers from."

I took the envelope and sighed. "You're very kind Mugitsu, and I'm glad to know you are a person to be reasoned with…but I'm not the same Tsumugi you think I am. I came to this world by accident, and everyone here mirrors someone I knew back at my home. It may be that there's another Tsumugi here that you've mistaken me for. I'm sorry Mugitsu-san, but I can't take up your offer…"

"Very well…" She growled, instantly going from calm to frighteningly hostile. With a wave of her arm, a sort of mirror appeared next to her. At first it showed my reflection, but then the edges began to blur and the image became foggy and swirled with mist and clouds. "…Remember Tsumugi, whatever happens to these people, _you_ could have stopped."

"Why do you want to hurt them though? They're good people. What did they ever do to you?" I crossed my arms and asked, matching her hostility. Such aggression from me was nearly unheard of, save for a few times when dealing with Miyuki when she would pick on people. I couldn't stand people who took advantage and hurt others, and I certainly wasn't going to allow this to happen without some sort of resistance.

Mugitsu rolled her eyes, and stepped towards me. I flinched as she grabbed me tightly by the wrist, and mentally prepared to unleash Sword-chan on her if anything happened. I was getting adept at mentally commanding my weapon friend.

"Ignorance is bliss dear sister, so I shall allow you to live in ecstasy." She pulled me towards that magical mirror/door thing. "This is a portal back to Sakuragyfli. It's been only a couple hours."

With a swift kick of her boot, she sent me tumbling through it, with the final words, "Expect minor deviation!"

Once again I felt myself falling through some sort of abyss. It was no less frightening even though I knew how it would end this time. Still, I felt a bit more excited now that I knew my time in the funhouse of horrors would be over and everybody would know that I was safe. Maybe the charnel hound's claws left scars. That'd be cool if it did because I could totally be the life of the party once I showed people that I was pretty much cut in half from the waist down. Any higher and I would have gotten a Glasgow grin, and then I would _never _get a date. Okay, I needed to raise my blood sugar soon because my thoughts were starting to get weird.

"Oof," I oof'd as I hit the ground. It was fully night out, with the moon illuminating the area around me nicely. I was sitting in several inches of snow, with more beneath me. It was snowing currently, and in the distance I could see mountains so high that their tops were obscured by clouds. Around me, snow covered pines were sporadically placed and they looked like they hadn't seen the sun in a long time. This felt…eerily familiar. I was in some sort of valley, or the mouth of a valley, it was hard to tell in the dark.

Mugitsu had been right about minor deviation. This could have been anywhere within 20 kilometers of Sakuragyfli, and I didn't have anything to keep warm. I stood up and realized that my ruined shirt was the only thing protecting me against the blizzard brewing around. I sighed and tried to figure out where to go. "So after nearly getting chopped in half, I get the pleasure of dying horribly by freezing to death. This is just not a good day for me, is it?"

A boulder flew out of the darkness and landed nearby. Marching down the valley path, I saw a group of shadowy armored men as tall as a building. There were at least a dozen of them. This must have been the frost giants everyone had been talking about earlier. It looked like I had gotten here before the militia, which I was unsure how I felt about. Feeling diplomatic, I called out to the giants, "Hi! My name is Mugi, and I would really appreciate it if you didn't throw things at me! If you want, I'll bake you all a nice cake if you give me something like a blanket or fire. All I would need is about several thousand kilograms of flour, eggs, and sugar. You all seem like reasonable folks and-"

A spike of pain jabbed into my stomach and cut me off, knocking the wind out of me. I saw a blur in the darkness, one that was too small to be a giant, but it was only there for a second. My guess was that it was a ghost…a ghost that had stuck a throwing knife into my stomach. With one quick, horribly painful motion, I yanked the sharp piece of metal out and grasped at my bleeding stomach. The knife had been angled poorly, and hadn't cut me deep, and I wasn't smelling the gangrene of my intestines, so I could safely say I wasn't gutted. Another positive thing here- my pain tolerance had gone through the roof these past few hours.

Another boulder flew past me, coming awfully close to my head. I hobbled out of the middle of the pass and hid behind a wide tree, still clutching my bleeding stomach wound. I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of this one, but I was _much_ more optimistic about this than the dead world I had been in moments earlier.

"Okay, Sword-chan…" I grunted, and freed her from my back. "…Diplomatic debates are really heating up and I need you to act as ambassador to the fine nation of Mugi-land. It is a peace loving land of tea, hugs, and love, so please do your best to represent us on the floor tonight. However, Mugi-land also understands that if we want peace, we must prepare for war sometimes. It is very hard to maintain peaceful diplomatic relationships with giants that ally themselves with knife throwing ghosts. So would you kindly be a dear and resolve this?"

Sword-chan went off to do her grizzly work as I lay with my back against the tree. I took the Masamune and drew it from its sheath. If a frost giant did break through Sword-chan's defense and get to me, I was pretty much guaranteed to die, but if I was going to die, I was going to die with a sword in hand. Why? Because if the militia arrived at the last moment, I would be forever remembered as that really cool person who fought to their dying breath against overwhelming odds.

I hadn't had any tea for hours now, and my low blood sugar and caffeine cravings were kicking in.

"Getting stabbed hurts…" I moaned and waited for help to arrive.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**AUTHOR'S NOTES AND FUN FACTS-**

**Foks and Mirri- **Foks is Russian for 'fox', and Mirri is Finish for 'cat'. Ha, c wut I did thar?

**Eight of swords- **I actually drew this card randomly for the scene, and it fit so well that I used it for the chapter title.

_**Beta-read by MisterYada, the living antidote to The Curse of Commas.**_


	9. Something Lost Something Gained

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 9**

**SOMETHING LOST SOMETHING GAINED**

Not only was I in pain, cold, and in desperate need of a sugary snack or beverage, I realized hadn't eaten anything since _before_ I went with Minami to deal with the charnel hound in the graveyard. That was about thirty hours ago, so needless to say my tummy had a rumbling about it. As I hid behind my safety tree, a craving for an apple Danish rose and made my mouth water. It was getting hard to think straight now, especially after how dizzy I felt going through that portal from the dead world.

_Wait, how can you kill a world? It's not even alive to begin with! If only I had my servants with me right now, they would make everything here so much easier. They could fetch me a nice meal, a warm blanket, and serve as body guards against giants. I miss my parents… Maybe when I get back I could have Daddy get someone like Zakk Wylde to follow me around and play guitar to make a soundtrack for my entire life. Wait, no, he'd probably just get drunk and break things. If Ozzy couldn't put up with the guy, chances are I couldn't either._

I heard the sounds of giants yelling, steel against steel, and then steel against flesh. Never in my life had that sound been so well received by me. I peered out from behind my happy tree of cover, and saw the giant leading them crumbled on the ground with more moving up. There was still a good hundred meters between me and them, and their torches gave them away. I wondered why frost giants needed torches since the cold didn't seem to bother them. They may have thrown rocks at me, but I wasn't about to give up in my attempts a diplomacy. Miyuki had thrown rocks at me, and we were great friends! Kind of.

Unsheathing the Masamune, I bravely, and a little woozily, stepped out of cover and drew a line across the snow some ten meters in length between me and them. Sword-chan stood/hovered her ground, and I realized that diplomacy was going to be a lot harder with one of them dead. Still feeling friendly, I called out, "Here, I drew this line between us here. It's called the Friendship Line. To cross it, you have to bring an offering of peace and love with you. Those warm fires you have with you would do, and I said I would bake a cake."

Coming out of the mist and snow, I saw a group of those useless undead marching forward with broken, rusty weapons, and some with no weapons at all. These ones would be harder to reason with. I mentally called out for Sword-chan to deal with the giants if anything went wrong, because I knew I was capable of dealing with the undead on my own. I had learned that Sword-chan responded to my mental commands, which was quite convenient. These undead were much smaller in number than before, and I knew they were slow and useless enough for me to take out with my shiny katana. If only I could have shown my friends back home pictures of me beating up zombie warriors with a sword. They would think I was the coolest person ever.

One of their torches flew towards me, and I barely was able to duck in time to avoid a face full of burning pitch.

"No!" I shouted back, "No! No! No! I'm tired of this! It's the same thing every time! I give you people the benefit of the doubt and you just try and kill me! Fine, that's it, no more Mrs. Nice Mugi. The proverbial gloves are off. The Friendship Line is now the Siegfried Line!"

Sword-chan took the hint and instantly began the battle. The giants quickly went to work trying to sunder my sword with their axes, and were kindly distracted as they were cut apart one by one. I could see why Ritsu said Sword-chan was made for killing giants, because she went through them like butter. Meanwhile the undead were slowly marching towards me. I took a deep breath and took a fighting stance. Years ago, I had taken a few lessons in self-defense from a black belt karate master, and as far as I knew, the stance for sword fighting was relatively the same. Not to mention, I had a .495 batting average in junior high in PE class.

"Stay away!" I shouted at the nearest ghoulie, "The borders to Mugi-land are all closed! None of you are welcome! My immigration policies make Arizona's look like an open invitation. You need a work visa to pass!"

They weren't listening, and the first stepped over the line I had worked so hard to dig. Up close, I had forgotten how disturbing they looked with their gaunt skin stretched over bones. It was worth stating that I _had _tried to be friendly with them. Just as the one spear heading the 'attack' raised its rusty long sword, I swung the Masamune like I would have done a baseball bat straight at its torso. The poor undead monster split in half and crumpled into a heap in the snow. _Black Winter Night _by _DragonForce_ also played because it was epic battle music.

"Well, that was frighteningly easy…" I said to myself, "…and I just killed something. No wait, it was already dead so-"

I was interrupted by another zombie warrior swinging an axe. The slash was slow, and I easily, hopped out of range of it, and then hacked him in half down the middle.

"Don't interrupt me. It's rude! Anyway, I guess it wasn't really me killing since it was already dead and I was defending myself. Hm, something tells me that you undead are the least of Sakuragyfli's problems right now. Plus I get to keep my killing virginity, which I like quite a bit. It's like my adult teeth in the sense that I want to keep it forever. Now my _other_ virginity on the other hand is a different story, because under the right circumstances- "

Another one crossed the line, and I cut it down easily like the other two.

"Look at you all; you're all crossing the line!" I shouted, feeling a strange rush of adrenaline. There were now at least thirty coming out of the fog. Sighing, I ranted, "I bet you're all terrible at bowling! Even if you get a strike, it won't be counted because you stepped over the line! I don't step over the line and I'm beating all of you; why can't you be like me? I bowled a 300 once! _Why does everyone who isn't me have such a violent problem?"_

One of them courteously fired an arrow from a bow at me. The arrow was worn, blunt, and rusty, and barely did more than scratch the skin. "Hey!" I shouted, "That was mean and it hurt! No. Stop crossing the line!"

I beat down two more, and felt like this was becoming a chore. Except it wasn't a fun chore like shining things or helping mother with cleaning our rooms. This was one of those chores that the servants did like taking out the trash, cleaning the litter box, changing the oil… and if they were here, dealing with the undead would be added to the list. My thoughts were interrupted as yet another went down from my shiny, steel blade. Now my head was feeling fuzzy, and my fingers turning this strange shade of purple; the kind of purple that came with frostbite. This was bad, and it got worse as five more rotting legionnaires crossed my line. This was probably what German soldiers were feeling like when their Siegfried Line was broken. Once Sword-chan was done with her grisly work, we needed to get out of here before I ended up freezing to death. I think I was part German too, but I couldn't be sure because I was part a lot of things…

"_Nein! Nein!_" I screamed at them, taking each one on as they came at me, and shouting, "_Weggehen! Sie haben die erste zeile gebrochen, und jetzt werde ich eine neue farbe in ihrem blut! Sieg heil! Sieg heil!_"

Okay, I needed to stop before someone walked in on this fight. While that would have inspired courage amongst German comrades in 1943, it just made me sound like a Neo-Nazi again.

Now with a dozen crumpled corpses around me, I was short of breath and exhausted. My tummy wound was burning, and every breath felt like I was inhaling broken glass. The whipping wind felt like it was blowing the skin right off my knuckles with its frozen fury. Still, I wasn't even half way done. It was hard to see, but it looked like Sword-chan was making adequate progress…but now the giants were charging towards me.

"No, no, no!" I yelled, and immediately fled in the other direction as fast as my stiff, aching legs would take me. The snow was getting thicker, and I really wasn't making much in the way of progress. If I died, at least I could say I put up a fight. That really didn't make me feel any better though. Panic rising, I tried my best to run as fast as I could away from where I was now. Anywhere was fine, even if it was even colder then here. Any port in a storm at this point.

But it seemed the port was coming to me. Out of the snow and winds, walking towards me, were armored men with weapons aplenty; mostly bows and arrows. Not to mention they were carrying some nice, warm, torches. Then it occurred to me-

_Oh no, I probably look like one of the undead now. Snow's covering my face, clothes, and hair. I'm covered in blood, and am wearing tattered clothes…_

I sheathed my Masamune, covered my exposed breast with one arm and waved the other frantically, "Heeeyyy! I'm human too, don't fire any arrows!"

Apparently they weren't listening, because someone took point with a bow and arrow, and raised it. Their features were obscured by fur lined leather armor and a cloak. They notched a flaming arrow and pulled the string back.

"It's me! The lovable Tsumugi Useless-O- I mean Kotobuki!" I shouted, waving my arm even more frantically. In hindsight, I _had_ asked for fire to keep warm, but I hadn't been specific. What if this person was a genie coming to give me fire by shooting flaming arrow into the back of my throat like Toki from the video for _Thunderhorse_?

"I wish that the fire won't hurt me." I quickly whispered under my breath. Two wishes down, I'd better spend my last one wisely.

The hooded figure let loose the arrow, and I instinctively cringed as it whistled through the air. I wasn't feeling fire burn up my face from inside out, so that was good so far. Something behind me grunted in a voice too deep to be human, followed by what sounded like a tree falling over. I turned around to see a dead frost giant with an arrow sticking from the eye piece of his horned helmet.

"Awesome! Bull's-eye!" The cloaked archer shouted above the wind. Wait…I recognized her voice from somewhere…

"Ricchan!" I shouted as loud as I could, and realized that the blizzard around us was making it hard for me to be heard. She was still kind of a blur in the flurry of snow, and I kept crying her name as I shuffled through the snow towards her. My feet and hands were completely numb now, and the wind had nearly blown the tatters of my shirt completely off.

"Mugi-chan, what on Midgard are you doing out here?" My hairbanded rescuer threw black the cloak of her hood and ran towards me. She had her bangs down, and was almost a completely different person now with her snow gear and weapon. I grabbed onto her nice warm body, just as she grabbed a throwing axe and threw it a good ten meters into a following undead's rotting head.

"C-c-c-c-c-old…" I said through teeth that were chattering that I thought they were going to break. Ritsu grabbed onto me and quickly wrapped her nice warm fluffy cloak around my body. With her bow on her back again, she picked me up in her arms and began marching back to the other militia men and mercenaries. I buried my face in her shoulder as she carried me, crying openly from relief.

I heard Sanya's voice "Is that..?"

Ritsu, "It is. Have someone fetch Mio; she needs her wounds tended to."

Sanya again, "W-What was she doing out here? I don't understand."

Then Ritsu, "Muspel, neither do I, but she's cold and hurt. Let's find a place to lay her down for a few minutes before we can find someone suitable enough to get her back to town."

"Rodger," Sanya replied, and presumably left to do just that.

I wondered if Ritsu was secretly a genie.

"It's going to be okay Mugi," she said to me as she began walking somewhere again. I still had my head buried. "I don't know what you were doing out here, but you're safe now. Everything is going to be okay."

Her voice was so strangely motherly, and it didn't seem anything like the Ritsu I knew. Maybe she did have a girly side that didn't really show too much beneath her tomboyish exterior. If that was true, then she would have no problems getting Mio to love her if she just showed it more. I made my third wish there, whispering.

"I wish Mio-chan and Ricchan will fall in love and live happily ever after."

Ricchan didn't hear me, and after some time, she laid me down onto something soft and fluffy. It felt like the reindeer fur that I commonly slept in at the inn. Despite how cuddly it was, I was still blisteringly cold, but now it was down to a bearable level. I gave one last look at Ricchan, who gave me a sympathetic smile. Behind her, the soldiers were rushing towards the giants, shouting their battle cries. It was so loud, but I was so tired and it didn't stop me from wanting to close my eyes and just sleep.

"Stay tight Mugi-chan, I'll be back after we win a battle here." Ricchan smiled again, grabbed her bow, and bounded off into the night. I reached for her once, but buried my hand in the warm blankets. Quickly I closed my eyes and tried to get some rest after everything. I never fully fell asleep, but rested in that in-between state of sleep and waking. The sounds of battle were around me, but the whipping wind blew so loudly over it that I couldn't tell even in the slightest what was going on. Someone went to work bandaging me, but I was too far gone with exhaustion to really register it.

A few times, I would close my eyes, doze off, and imagine a starry sky above. They would be the stars that Mother and I used to look at together when we vacationed in Finland. There was a night we spent walking along the shores of beautiful Lake Bodom, and the stars were shining that night in a way I never saw them do normally. In my dreams now, they were like that, shining so bright in a way that felt like they were beckoning to me.

A man's voice near me, "She's out cold right now. Possibly comatose, but it's hard to tell. The wound on her abdomen was light, and we have it tended to right now."

Another man's voice, "Wait, this girl is the one who killed more than half the giants?"

The first voice again, "That's what I was told, and both Tainaka and Litvyak say it to be true."

Then the second, "This woman must have been sent by the gods to aid us. There's no other reason as to why she could do the things she does."

_But Sword-chan does it, not me!_

"Oh, did you hear about the ghost again?" The first man asked.

"Some of my men said they saw her tonight, and that she even killed a few of them with her evil magic and knives." The second replied.

_It was a ghost! I knew it! This means I'm not crazy!_

"That's the last thing Sakuragyfli needs; _ghosts_. Legend says that she can dodge any attack and only shows up during nights like this, where she can disappear in and out of the fog. Apparently she's the ghost of a Sentinel who died defending her lover somewhere here in Sakuragyfli."

"Who told you that?"

"The white haired Sentinel…what's her name… _Yulinaiten_ or something, I don't know. But she said that the ghost never hurts humans, only fight against giants."

Second spoke for the last time, "Yeah that would match the description of how some of the giants were killed tonight. Maybe it wasn't all Kotobuki?"

Then I heard Ricchan's voice, "Hey you two, buzz off. I'm taking Mugi back to town myself since Lord Akiyama doesn't want his little baby girl out in the storm."

"Right-O, Tainaka." The one who couldn't pronounce Juutilainen replied, and I heard the two of them stomp off through the snow. I was too tired to even register if I was laying on the ground or being carried anymore. Sleep was welcomed as I finally truly entered it after a long and laboring night.

What did I dream about? I can't remember; it was probably just some kind of recap or nightmare involving everything that had happened in the last 30 hours. It was funny just how fast one event had flowed to another with just one nap in between. One moment I was chasing a carrion sculpted abomination with three pianists across a murky graveyard, and then I was having things thrown at me for what cat did and then jumping between worlds. The thing with my time in Sakuragyfli was how I seemed to be in all the wrong places at all the wrong times. I had heard a phrase once that went something like, _the right person at the wrong time can make all the difference_, or something. Truthfully, I felt like the worst person possible to do the things I was doing. Nearly every single encounter with combat had ended with me nearly dead, or passing out form exhaustion, or both.

But Sword-chan only worked with me. Nearly everyone else I had met here had tried to get the blade to act on its own, but it only responded to my commands. That made me wonder if I truly was special, and meant for all these tasks. Or maybe Sword-chan just liked me. Any guess was as good as another.

"Mio-chan, she's stirring!" I heard someone who sounded_ exactly _like me call out. Wait, that voice was Yuuko's. It was simply uncanny how much she sounded like me. To me, Yuuko was what would have happened if Mio and I had a baby together. Except she was a real person, and not my daughter.

I flicked my eyes open, and found myself laying upright against a pile of poofy pillows. This was Mio's room, just like where I had ended up after my first battle with Yui and Eila. My two swords were leaning against the wall next to me. Once again, I was without clothes. I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

"Bring in the others," Mio said in a low voice. Yuuko nodded, and then stepped out. Something was off; Mio had been all over me the last time I had been here. She stepped over from the armchair she had been sitting at and took a seat on the wooden chair next to me.

_"You'll never believe what happened to me_," I was half tempted to say, but kept my mouth closed. I really wasn't sure what to say there at all.

"I'm…really not sure what to say to you," Mio said a near monotone voice, apparently sharing my sentiments towards this conversation. This wasn't like her though, she looked like she was going to cry again, but she didn't really seem all that happy to see me.

I nearly gasped when a realization came to me, "Wait, was anyone hurt in the ritual because of me and Pickles the Cat?"

Mio gave me a look of confusion, "No, no, nobody was hurt there…but…but…" She was beginning to break down.

"But what?" I leaned forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She slapped my hand away, and shouted, "We know what you did!"

"What I did?" I tried to think of something I could have done to really upset anyone. Her attitude towards me was drilling a hole in my heart though. Just before the ritual, she had been so close, and now she looked she wanted to send me through her blade barrier spell.

Mio stood up and stepped around the bed to where my weapons had been placed. She grabbed something off a stool near them, walked back over and dumped it on my lap: a crinkled envelope, the wand that Sanya had given me, and a strap of leather being used to hold throwing knives. Half the knives were missing. I didn't know what either of these things was supposed to mean.

"I don't understand." I told her honestly.

She took a deep breath and said, "These were both found on you when were brought back here."

That meant this was the note with the directions to the treasure cache from Mugitsu. Those two men had claimed that several soldiers were killed by knives. This was a case of knives, with several missing, planted on me. If someone didn't know any better, they could think that I was getting paid with treasure to kill their own men.

_No, no, no! Someone's framing me! _

"Explain!" Mio shouted at me.

"You don't actually-"

"I said _explain!_" Her shout was raised to a scream. I flinched back at her rage, and felt tears running down my cheeks. How could she doubt me like this? The evidence was so clearly planted that it sounded like she didn't even really think over it all that much.

"B-But, I don't know how to throw knives!" I stammered, and realized that wasn't a very convincing defense, "Mio-chan, someone put those knives on me! I was completely exhausted after the militia arrived, and was sleeping through most of the battle."

"I was told you were fighting alongside Ritsu and the rest of the militia until the battle was over!" Mio retorted.

"Who told you that?" The surprise in my voice wasn't well hidden.

"Juutilainen did," She answered.

_Did this mean that she was the one who…No, no, no, that couldn't be it. Eila and I didn't really see eye to eye, but I know she wouldn't try and make me out to be a killer or traitor._

"She's wrong; I was bundled up and asleep for all of it!" I desperately tried to tell her. Her anger seemed to subside, now replaced with hopeless confusion. Then Yuuko (who I noticed actually quite tall compared to the itty bittiness of Mio and I) returned with Ritsu, Yui, and the two white haired Sentinels. I immediately pointed at the lying liar of the group, Juutilainen, and tried to keep my voice steady as I spoke, "You told Mio-chan I was fighting the whole time when I wasn't! She thought I was hurting and even _killing_ the people here because of that!"

Now _she_ looked surprise, throwing her hands up in defense, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I wasn't even there for that battle. I was just telling her what Skirnir there so kindly relayed to me."

"I hate that name." Ritsu pouted, crossing her arms. She still had her hair down, and dressed her fur lined leather armor. With the longbow on her back, and throwing axes at her belt, she looked so unlike the Ritsu I called my friend.

Luckily, Yui came to my defense as well, "Kotobuki was alongside us, and Tainaka isn't telling the truth."

Ritsu blushed heavily as Sanya also added, "We found her wandering the valley with her sword killing most of the opposition by itself."

"I just wanted to make her sound cooler!" The liar in question shouted. Whether it was from the heat of wearing so much in doors, or nervousness, Ritsu was sweating a lot now as she quickly tried to explain herself to a room full of angry onlookers. "S-See, Mugi helped us a lot tonight and I wanted the stories to sound better. I wanted people to think that she ran into battle, swords swinging, and cat meowing so everyone would think she was some Valkyrie hero from a legend or something!"

Eila rolled her eyes. "That's a great idea, _Skirnir_, tell everyone that she's a beautiful maiden sent from Asgard to bring people back from the dead when they fall. Send everyone into a suicidal frenzy since they know that death has no consequences anymore. Great idea you idiot!"

"She wouldn't bring them back from the dead..." Ritsu muttered in defeat, "…just take them to an immortal paradise full of friends, fighting, and goat mead."

"Must be nice to have that kind of assurance," Yui said in a low voice, with the other two Sentinels nodding.

Mio stopped her pacing about the room and sat down next to me, now looking guilty instead of confused. Her face was tinted red with blushing, and I was afraid she was going to explode from it. She grabbed my hands, and began, "I'm so sorry Mugi! I blamed you for a horrible thing even though it was so obvious that you were framed! Oh, please don't be angry at me. I promise to believe you right away if anything ever happens!"

"It's okay, I'm not angry with you," I assured her with a friendly hug. Besides, me? Angry? There was an English saying that fit my reaction to such a silly notion. _Lol_.

"You're too good to me," Mio sniffled, letting me go. "Sometimes I feel like we don't deserve someone as generous and kind as you are."

I gave them all a warm smile, now glad this whole ordeal was over. "I'm glad this was sorted out before word got around that I had done anything extreme." I sighed in relief. "…but who would do something like this to frame me? They would have had to have known I was going to be there and able to get to me without anyone noticing, wouldn't they?"

"A spy…" Eila was the one who frowned. She took a step towards me, and her eyes perked up, "Wait! Those knives are _mine_!"

All eyes were on her, and Ritsu asked the most basic question, "Uh…why do you have throwing knives?"

"It's a hobby; like darts." She answered, and then realized that everyone (besides me) was eyeing her down suspiciously. "I throw them at stupid little bull's eyes in my room for fun. I have a mechano-bow, so why the hell would I ever need to learn how to use them against people? Ask Sanya; have I _ever_ used throwing knives against something other than a bull's-eye target?"

The little white haired girl gently shook her head. "No, you haven't. Those knives were missing for weeks now, weren't they?"

Eila nodded. "That's right; these have been missing for weeks. Some one snuck in and stole them, then framed Mugi!"

"But who?" Ritsu pondered, stroking her chin and making her pondering face. I like Ricchan's pondering face because a good 60% of Kyoto Animation's budget went into animating her facial expressions. They began pretty much all talking at once, besides Sanya who looked asleep on her feet, about who the potential spy could have been. A lot of names I didn't know were thrown out, and luckily nobody was pointing fingers at each other. From what I saw, everyone's story seemed pretty tight, and nobody ever disappeared for some lengthy amount of time like a spy would have had to.

As they were all muttering about how there were no leads, Mio spoke over all of them. "Wait, I still have a question. How did Mugi even end up there? And what about the note, too? It's definitely Mugitsu's hand writing, and it looks like a sort of treasure map."

"I thought she just decided to show up fashionably early." Ritsu said, completely oblivious to the whole ritual thing that took place prior.

"Not quite…" I told her, and then realized something that I should have realized earlier. I was sitting there naked surrounded by six people. It was one thing if we were all naked together, but right now it was _just_ me. All of a sudden blushing, I raised the blanket around my waist up to my bosom, and did not detect a hint of disappointment from anyone in the room. Something about that was kind of depressing.

"Well tell me later, 'cause I gotta go deliver a package to Baldr's brother in Asgard." Ritsu headed for the door, waving, and ranted, "Can you believe that though? I'm a messenger, not a courier, but here I have to deliver a spear made from mistletoe from Loki. That Loki is a jerk anyway; he called me fat and stole my head band."

_I had a cat named Loki once_, I remembered. Loki was one of those pets that was around when I was only around four years old, so I don't remember what happened to him. If he was still around, he could be friends with Pickles the Cat. Or Pickles the Cat would try and eat him. I don't know.

Eila began following her, pretty much dragging a sleeping Sanya with her. "Okay, I'm going too. 'Night. Sanya and I are going to bed together."

"In the same bed?" I blurted out without thinking. She just glared at me menacingly before leaving. At least in Sakuragyfli it was pretty much implied that such concepts as 'sexuality' didn't quite exist. So nobody here would ever say something like, 'Wow Mugi, that was an awfully gay remark right there', or, 'Wow Mugi, sometimes you make me wonder' or even the occasional, 'No Mugi I will not take my clothes off'. No, this was far different than junior high. Part of me wondered just how open people here were about that kind of thing, and if I actually stood a chance of getting a girl friend for once. I mean, I _was _being hailed a hero for killing and breaking things, and a lot of girls _did_ like heroes. Not guys though; they would just be intimidated by my swagger. Was swagger the right word there?

The problem was though; there really weren't any girls that I actually had a shot with. Mio and Ritsu were going to have each other eventually (which is kind of sad because I was beginning to like Mio). This world's Yui was the polar opposite of the one I knew and loved back home. No Azusa yet, so I couldn't count her out. While Eila and I had some common ground with our Suomi suave, I just couldn't really picture us as a happy couple. Sanya was out of the question because Eila would probably throw a brick at me for just touching her. That left…Ui! I liked Ui too! Ui was so nice, a good cook, kind, pretty and-

"Mugi, were you going to answer my question?" Mio said, waving a hand in my face.

Just how long had I been fantasizing? "Wait, what, sorry?"

"I asked about that note." She pointed at the crumpled up letter.

Yuuko chuckled. "Are you alright Mugi? You were staring into space there."

I blushed and gave them a slight smile. "Y-Yeah, I was just thinking. Thinking about nothing in particular. Mugitsu's letter! Right, right, you'd probably like to know about that, wouldn't you? Well, what happened after I tripped was…"

So I explained to them everything that happened between me falling into a spiraling vortex of scariness, getting pretty much sliced in half by the hound, and Mugitsu's odd rescue and her offer. I then told them about how I was dumped back into the cold, attacked by Knifey the Knife Throwing Knife Ghost, and my brief battle against the battalion of bogies. I left out my German tangent, because looking back, it confused me as well. I didn't speak German. Like, at all. It wasn't like me not speaking Spanish, because I knew a _little_ Spanish like _me gusta_, but I didn't know _any_ German. Like, not even a single German world that could be used in conversation.

Mio nodded slowly as I finished my story, and then took my hand in hers. "Oh you're so brave Mugi-chan, and I was accusing you of something awful. You must hate me now, don't you?"

The black haired girl looked like she was going to cry, like my opinion towards her was all that mattered at that point. Her eyes held a look of tension, like she was preparing to burst into sorrowful tears were I to answer negatively to her question. She was forgetting that I just couldn't hate people; that I was simply incapable. Everybody had good in them, and nobody had ever wronged me in a way that would change that view. I hoped it would stay that way.

"I could never hate you," I spoke my mind, trying my best to sound sincere.

Her arms wrapped around me tight, hugging me close to her body despite my obvious lack of clothes. Had Yuuko not been sitting in a stool at the edge of the room viewing our exchange, I would have suspected that Mio would have simply torn her clothes off and rewarded me in a rather unorthodox, yet completely welcomed way. Instead, she embraced me in a way that was beyond friendly, or even sisterly, like she was trying to show all her feelings with one gesture. I could smell her hair, a soothing lavender scent that was subtle, yet overpowering to my senses. Maybe it was because I was naked, or maybe because it was that I secretly loved her, but I wanted her. I wanted to go against my promise to Ritsu and just take the raven haired noble as my own. Embrace her, kiss her, love her, be the knight in pajama armor that she needed.

"I've said it before, but you're too good to me," Mio whispered, head resting between my breasts. "I don't understand you. I really don't. You stood up against the charnel hound, helped with the ritual, was nearly killed, then come back in time to do half our militia's work for them; risking your life again. You're not asking for our money, or even luxury accommodations, but you're doing so much. There must be something you want. _Please,_ let me award you accordingly."

She looked up at me, those two eyes shimmering in the candlelight around us. I looked into them and could see my own feeling reflected back at me: those feelings of desire, to press our lips together and become one with each other. Those feelings of lust, to give ourselves into passion and make over in the candlelight in that very bed. Yuuko had excused herself sometime during this, leaving us alone to our own accord. But in her beautiful eyes, I could see the face of Ritsu devastated when she learned that I had stolen away the one she loved. What was I supposed to do in a spot like this, where every fiber of my weary body ached for her? My heart was beating so fast that I was sure Mio could hear it, and I could feel the first bits of moisture gathering between my thighs.

"Anything…you want…" Mio whispered, her voice seductive, her hot breath on my lips.

I couldn't do it.

I denied myself the one luxury presented before me in this icy hell I had been so kindly dumped into without any warning. Rapidly blinking tears out of my eyes, I backed away, taking a deep breath. I looked around for my clothes, or some kind of replacement attire. "S-Sorry, but I c-can't."

"Tsumugi…" I felt Mio's hand wrap around my elbow from behind, calling me back.

"I c-can't," I stuttered, trying so hard to not cry. "I like you Mio, I like you _a lot_…but I just can't."

I turned around to face her, seeing the shock on her face at my rejection. She was shaking ever so slightly as she asked, "I-Is there s-someone else?"

"For you, not for me," I answered, spotting a pile of neatly folded clothes in the corner by my weapons. My destroyed shirt had been so kindly replaced by a gray tunic that was equally or less warm as my previous shirt. Same pajamas and panties; still no bra though. Because, you know, who would give me one of those? I dressed as my words danced around in Mio's head, and then gathered that note that Mugitsu had left. Yui needed her smile back, so I would be the one to go and deliver it. No rest for the love depraved.

"I'll be here for whenever you're ready," Mio said to me as I left, causing my spirits to both rise and fall. All in all I felt; well, terrible; like I didn't want to be awake then. Had I been at home, I would have curled up on the couch watching French romance movies while eating ice cream. This world had neither of those, so I went to the next best place for a girl who had her heart aching.

The bar of the inn whose name I don't like recognizing.

It was late out, not many people were out and about since morning would be around soon. At least I had gotten my sleep schedule corrected to some degree by this. I wasn't hungry anymore either, so that was an extra boon. Still cold though. Always cold here. I found that little inn quite deserted in the early morning hour, with a sleeping mercenary or two lying against the tables. The place was cloaked in shadow with the fire so dim, and I felt like someone was watching me. Someone probably was, but I couldn't react to every time there was a moment I thought I was being stalked.

"Good morning, Mugi-chan, do you want some tea?" Ui happily greeted me, apparently immune to sleep. Seriously, she was _always_ there.

"I want…" I gulped, "…_alcohol_, and some information maybe."

This was exciting because I was like a real fantasy hero now.

Ui, as cheerful as ever, nodded. "Okay, what do you want me to make? Free of charge for my favorite customer."

I blushed. "What do you have?"

"Worgspit on the rocks, Worgspit on the rocks without the rocks, Wolvesblood martini, Ogresweat cocktail, Wyvern poison, Deathsiphontini, sulfuric acid, and some gin and tonic."

"I'll take the gin, since it doesn't sound like it'll kill me." I shuttered at the names of some of those. Ui quickly poured me a shot from a bottle she retrieved from the icebox and slid it my way. I took it. "Thank you."

"So what do you want to know about?" She asked as I gulped down my drink without thinking.

I began coughing as my lungs were assaulted by the warmth of hard liquor. It stole my breath away and made it hard to talk. My mouth was overwhelmed by the bitter taste of pine needles too. I replied to her, but my voice came out like the wind had been knocked out of me. "I want to know about Yui-chan, and what's a melancholy curse?"

Ui shifted uncomfortably, like I had struck a nerve unintentionally. "So you heard about that? Yes, Onee-chan was cursed by a powerful balor demon many years ago."

"Oh my…" I exhaled, all of a sudden feeling very funny. My tummy was warm, and I didn't feel so sad anymore. "…What was she like before that though? Oh, and can you pour me another one of these?"

"Certainly," She nodded and poured me my second shot. Despite feeling like I was drinking poison, I did like the feeling it left me with. Everything just seemed so much better now, happier, like I didn't need to worry. I took the second shot, bearing it a bit better than the first, but still wincing at the awful pine taste. That was better though, and rejecting Mio wasn't hurting quite as bad. She was a big girl. She'd get over it eventually.

Ui dreamily sighed. "Onee-chan was Onee-chan before that demon. So happy, always smiling, hugging me, even despite how scary being a Sentinel was. Then there was that demon in Aibureido that she and some others had to defeat to save a very important village. They did, but the powerful demon cursed her on its dying breath so that she would never truly smile or laugh again. After that, it exploded, and she was hurt quite badly, and when she recovered, the curse came to life." The sadness in her voice was palpable. "She stopped telling me she loved me, stopped holding my hand and keeping me company on the scariest nights."

"Wow…" I responded to her story, all of a sudden now very excited. "…but I got something to help."

From the shadows, the sound of wooden sandals marked the entrance of Yui as she sat next to me, apparently there the whole time. Her face was a blank pallet of emotion. "I can tell the story myself, thank you Ui. The longer I have this curse, the less it feels like one. My mind has been clear, my victories much more numerous, and my attacks deadlier. The demon called it a curse, but it turned me into the Sentinel I needed to be. The old Hirasawa Yui was a ditzy airhead who acted on passion alone, and not logic and skill."

"But that's the Yui we love!" I drunkenly blurted out.

Yui frowned at me. "Once again, I'm not the same one from wherever you're from. Were I to become what I was again, I would fail in my duty to protect Sakuragyfli from Mugitsu. The very reason she gave you that map was to no doubt sabotage me."

"How can you say that though?" I grabbed onto her hand. "Even if being emotionless makes you a total butt kicking warrior, it doesn't matter if you can't come home at the end of the day and enjoy some time off! What about love, joy, happiness, and excitement? How could you not want those?"

"They're hindrances," Yui firmly stated.

Ui then spoke up, her voice quiet and shy. "I…I like old Onee-chan better."

"Hm?" Yui raised an eyebrow. "This way I can protect you better. I won't ever lose you if I'm strong enough to shield you from any danger."

"I don't care about that if you're not the same person," Ui sighed, staring at the ground.

"I am the same person though, just contained and disciplined."

"No you're not!" Ui shouted, slamming her hands on the bar table, causing some of the sleeping mercenaries to stir slightly. She sniffled, and wiped tears from her eyes. "Mugi-chan is right; none of it matters if I don't have you smiling with me. I want to see your smile again."

Yui replied with a smile, but it was clearly fake and strained.

"A real smile from your heart!" The younger sister shouted again.  
>The older sister was taken back, taking a moment to reply. "Do you still love me though?"<p>

"Of course I love you!" Ui grabbed her sister's hands in her own. "How could you ask something like that? I'll always love you no matter what, but the melancholy you is sad because it _isn't_ you. You're still my sister, but you're not the same Onee-chan I grew up with. I never said anything because it was so hard, but it's out now. Please, if there's any chance you can be your old self again, take it."

Yui grabbed her into a tight hug, kissing her on the cheek and whispering something.

"What did you say?" Ui asked, holding her from across the bar awkwardly.

"I said I'll do it," Yui spoke up and let her go. "Mugi, you're the strongest warrior here. Would you come with me to guarantee my safety?"

"You don't even have to ask!" I happily replied. It wasn't like we were going to be fighting dragons or anything, right?

"Let me go with you too!" Ui pleaded.

Yui shook her head. "I'm sorry Ui, but it's too dangerous. I looked at the map, and the treasure trove is in the castle of Sakuragyfli's last baron."

"You don't mean…" Ui looked nervous.

I had to interject. "Uh, wait, where exactly are we going for this?"

"Icenborgir," Yui answered, then realized that word meant nothing to me. "It was the castle that Sakuragyfli's baron before Akiyama lived in. It was lost during the many wars against the mercenaries and dark forces years ago, and recently has been used as a lair for the terrible dragon Bitterhearth. I theorize that the cure for my curse is among his treasure hoard."

My lips contorted into a perfect frowny face. "Is Bitterhearth a nice dragon?"

Ui's worried looked said otherwise.

Yui shook her head. "No. He resides there with his mate and four dragonlings. Much of Sakuragyfli's ancient treasures are kept by him, and he was responsible for many of the villages being destroyed years ago. The only way he'll leave is if we sacrifice Lady Mio to him in an unholy ritual…"

I raised my hand to say something.  
>"…yes, the ritual would kill her."<p>

I put my hand down. It was time for another episode of ethical dilemma theater. Risk life to get Yui's smile back? Stay home and not die? All of a sudden I didn't feel so fearless about this, since evil dragons were a lot harder to deal with then shambling undead. As far as I knew, dragons were big, scary, could fly, could breathe fire, and particularly liked virgin maidens like me as snacks.

"Dragons like virgins as tasty treats, right?" I asked in a meek voice, hardly above a whisper.

"Yes." Yui nodded.

An idea hatched in my mind. "I have a plan to make us less appetizing and increase our chance of survival!"

Yui frowned towards me. Didn't say anything, just frowned.

We made plans for our expedition, which could very well take place that very day if no battles were foreseen. Apparently Juutilainen was in charge of intelligence for upcoming battles, which made me wonder if she used a crystal ball or something. That would fit in with her personality and those tarot cards pretty well. Yui assured me that no dragon slaying would be needed, since we could probably just sneak in and out if we studied the dragon's routine.

Above all else, I wanted Ricchan to come back so I could stress the urgency that she needed to make a move on Mio _soon_. Anything to show her interest so she could go with her to Lesfain in my stead. While it would be painful for myself to stay here alone, the feeling that I helped love blossom would be a reward all in itself. Plus I could always pick up habitual masturbation to help ease any bitter loneliness. No, that would probably make me feel worse. Two shots of liquor, talks of fuwa fuwa time with myself, I was taking steps down a rather unpleasant road. It would be best to turn right around and stop thinking about that stuff.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Doo doo doo~ Author's Notes- **__This chapter took way longer than it should have to finish. I only hope that it was satisfactory to those who read it. I tried to get a mix of action, romance, and plot all together into one spoonful of awesome. It's not my intention to turn Mugi into a manic depressive over her love life, so don't expect too much angst from our hero._

_Feedback is cool too, especially towards the saucier bits since that's what I feel is my weakest point. I actually started reading published lesbian erotica stories to get a feel on just how hell to write this kind of stuff. I'm stepping on eggshells with the romance subplot, since I know I could end up ruining the whole story if I mess it up. _

_**Beta-read by MisterYada, who thinks the romance subplot is awwwwwwwright.**_


	10. The Road To A Smile

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 10**

**THE ROAD TO A SMILE**

_"Okay, here's a little song I'm going to play for you called 'Living Dead Beat'. My very good friend Sawa-chan helped me learn it and will be playing the guitar part for it. I hope you all enjoy our performance as we are playing this song while naked. Please hold all questions until the end of the show, thank you."_

_ Wait, no, I've had this dream before. It always ends the same way too, and nobody gets ahead. Well, I'm awake now though, but I don't remember falling asleep. I remember being at the inn and Juutilainen came in and bought me a drink and…I don't remember what happened after that. Where am I anyway? It's windy, and I feel like I fell asleep on a balance beam from gym class. Except this time this balance beam is rough and uncomfortable._

I opened my eyes to find myself laying face down a tree branch some twenty meters off the ground. With something heavy on my back, making my ribs hurt. It had to be morning now, so maybe I blacked out the last couple hours. Did something happen though?

_That was a silly question, of course something happened! I woke up in a tree again! This is like that time I stayed at Miyuki's place a year or two ago and we stayed up all night watching the Japanese subtitled version of 'My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'. It ended in pretty much the exact same scenario if I remember right._

I grunted, trying to figure out what was on top of me. It was heavy and warm, and was now talking to me.

"Oh wow, how'd we get up here? That was some party last night, eh Mugi?" It was Juutilainen's voice. She was on top of me. In a tree. Yep, just like that night with Miyuki. I wanted to believe this was a new low for me and that it would never happen again, but none of this was really new. But just what was I forgetting last night?

"Would you be a dear and get off of me?" I exhaled, finding it hard to talk with people on me. Not to mention my chest felt awfully compressed, like I was wearing a bra that was more than one size too small. Once again, nothing particularly new.

"Right, sorry." Juutilainen crawled off of me and sat down on another branch. Wincing at my aching body, I carefully raised myself to a sitting position on the branch and faced her.

"What…" My words were stolen from me when I saw the white haired girl sitting across from me in the tree. She was wearing a gray tunic, pajama pants in a lighter shade, and a bathrobe over it; no bra either. The outfit seemed a little large on her, and there was a familiar looking katana tied around her waist.

I looked down at myself to find the reason for the tightness around my chest. Gone was my normal pajama shirt, replaced with a tight blue button up jacket with belt pouches. My legs were clad in white tights, and I was wearing two white boots that didn't quite fit. Waking up in someone else's clothes was new though, and not exactly welcomed.

"Why are you staring at me?" Eila raised an eyebrow. A million frightened thoughts about my blackout ran through my head. The last thing I needed was to learn that I had gotten a little frisky with this girl here. Even if I had drank a bit, surely I wouldn't have gone so far as to do anything really naughty. That was impossible!

I answered honestly, "Why did we switch clothes?"

"You don't remember?" She tilted her head ever so slightly, looking confused, "After we visited the sauna naked and compared breast sizes, you suggested we try on each other's clothes before playing that game where we wrestle dire wolves while naked. Since I don't have any bleeding wounds on me, I don't think we played it."

"That game sounds awful!" I gasped. And it looked like I missed out on some interesting happenings.

Eila smiled, "It is! Ritsu's the local champion, but nobody can beat the soldiers from Varyag back west."

I yawned from being sleepy, "That sounds pretty crazy. What time is it anyway?"

She shrugged, "I dunno, probably high noon. We were up pretty late last night."

"I did wake up in the early morning." I reminded her.

"Yeah that was yesterday though, I'm talking about last night." She replied.

My eyes went wide. I hadn't just blacked out the last couple hours, I had blacked out the entire last _day_. Being so heart broken about my willing rejection of Mio, I must have gotten so drunk out of self pity that I didn't remember anything. That explained just about everything if that was true. If so, then Juutilainen had been there for me if we woke up in a tree together. She may have been a bit mean sometimes, but it looked like she had a good heart. Still, I hoped that I didn't do anything dangerous or stupid in my blur.

"There you are!" I heard Ritsu call down from the ground, "Come on Mugi, you said you'd be ready by now."

"Ready for what?" I shouted at her.

"To go dragon slaying!" She happily answered.

"Wait, you're coming with us?" I called back down.

"Of course I am. You were the one that invited me and Mio to go!" She replied. I felt a rush of excitement at the idea of the four of us going on an adventure. All four basic party roles were filled right there. Yui-chan could be the tank, Mio-chan was healbot and crowd control, Ricchan was DPS, and I was the party buffer with my tea and words of encouragement. I would need to pack snacks for this though.

Quickly, I went to work climbing out of this dump fir tree with Eila just above me the whole time. She stepped on my hand a few times, but that was a small complaint compared the overwhelming excitement I was feeling. This could be the opportunity to finally get Mio and Ritsu together if I played my cards right. I was sure that once they were together I wouldn't feel bad about not being able to have Mio for myself. Being completely honest with myself, I did want her, and I wanted her badly. I wasn't sure if it was love I was feeling, but it was something.

Ui helped me once again packing some sweets and some tea for our journey to Icenborgir. The whole time she was thanking me for my help with getting her Onee-chan's smile back. I was only too happy to aid in this endeavor. The Onee-chan in question was waiting at the edge of Sakuragyfli for us when we were ready. I found Ritsu not long after getting my stuff together, and we decided to walk together to find Mio up at the castle. However, I hadn't seen Pickles the Cat since the ritual. Eila said she had seen him with Foks a few times, but it felt like he was ignoring me. He wasn't upset, and I knew that because he was certainly not passive aggressive. I couldn't really place a finger on his strange behavior.

The hairbandee and I were about half way up that slope when an idea hatched in my mind, "Wait, Ricchan, are you bringing Ton-chan with us?"

"Nah, I don't like riding when other people have to walk. It makes me feel bad." She answered.

"Why don't you go get her, then offer her for Mio-chan to ride?" I suggested.

Ritsu glanced upwards like she was thinking, "Yeah, I think I could do that. Is this to get her to notice me more?"

I nodded, "Yep, and we really need to get cracking on that. I think she's getting restless waiting for someone to swoop her off her feet. I wouldn't be too sudden though, because that could pose issues. Today your mission is to shower her with compliments that aren't sporadic or weird and keep going out of your way to do nice things for her. In fact, that's what you need to do from now on all the time. Got it?"

"Got it." Ritsu made a fist, "I'll go get Ton-chan. Oh, I need to grab my longbow with those magical flaming arrows I got from Muspelheim. I'll be Mio's personal honor guard this entire trip! Mugi, I can't tell you how grateful I am for your help. I like her so much, but I'm just too nervous to tell her how I really feel. With your help, I'm sure I could get the confidence I need!"

"Now you're getting it!" I smiled as she bounded off to go gather her mount and weapons. Flaming weapons would certainly help get Mio's favor. Girls _loved_ flaming weapons. Speaking of weapons, I needed to find mine before I left.

I made it up to the courtyard, and was greeted by plenty of people I didn't know waving, cheering, and warmly greeting me. Kill a few frost giants and you're a celebrity all of a sudden. People wanted to shake my hand, sign a few autographs, and have me retell a story of my 'bravery'. I had to politely tell the militia there that I was in a hurry and needed to see Lady Mio. Not to mention they probably wouldn't really want to hear about me awkwardly swinging at undead while ranting out loud about nothing. Ritsu may have had the right idea embellishing my story a bit. They told me that the gal I was looking for was taking a quick bath before she left with us.

While I could have just gone and told Ritsu that she was bathing and would catch up with us, and then use that extra time to search for my weapons, I decided to pay my black haired friend a visit. I was considering telling her about Ritsu's feelings, but that could go either way and I wasn't sure I wanted to take the risk.

I entered, unthinkingly, without knocking and ended up surprising the poor girl. She was sitting at the back left corner of the bath, her hair done up and wrapped in a towel.

"Oh, it's just you Mugi…" Mio sighed, "Ritsu sent you here in a hurry, didn't she?"

I nodded, smiling slightly, "How did you know?"

"Ritsu's been excited about this ever since you invited us along yesterday." She answered with a slight wave of her hand, "Speaking of which, you were acting kind of weird yesterday, doing things I wouldn't really expect you to do. Still, glad to see that you and Juutilainen are able to get along so easily. Anyway, I told Ritsu before I came in here that I would be awhile. Care to join me?"

"Yes, certainly, thank you." I happily nodded, feeling that I _desperately_ needed a soak after what may or may not have happened the day before.

"Why are you wearing Juutilainen's clothes again?" Mio asked as I stepped behind the changing screen.

"I couldn't answer that." I gave her an honest reply, eager to get out of the restraining wear. After this, I would definitely need to find my white haired friend and trade back with her. Stripping down to nothing, I joined Mio by sitting next to her. The hot water instantly did wonders to my body's aches from spending the night in a tree. The relief was so great that it made me consider sleeping a tree again to experience that feeling some other time. At first I thought that waking up there meant I was stupid, but it ended up feeling great now. I couldn't tell whether or not it was smart or stupid. Smoopid? Thoughts aside, I couldn't help but sigh, "Ahhhh, this is heaven."

"Isn't it though?" Mio agreed, moving just an inch closer to me. She didn't seem all to upset about my rejection, unless I did something I shouldn't have the day before. In a relaxed voice, she said, "To think we're going to go get Sakuragyfli's treasures back and restore the emotions of a Sentinel. With how you and Hirasawa dealt with the Poshkt, and the night with the charnel hound, I actually believe we could go dragon slaying. You're to thank for this too, and I can only imagine how grateful Daddy will be to see some of those treasures back in our hands."

"I was just given a map, so I can't take too much credit." I then realized that I hadn't met her father yet. During the month or so I had been there, the man had not revealed himself to the people.

Mio wrapped her arms around me, laying her head against my shoulder. In return, I placed an arm around her as well, holding her tight against me. We were effectively cuddling…naked…wet… My heart began to beat faster, and every ounce of willpower was being used to stop my nose from bleeding.

_Okay Mugi, control your breathing, control your breathing. Don't fidget, or squirm, just relax, RELAX. I can't let her smell my nervousness either, wait, can people smell nervousness? No, that's dinosaurs I'm thinking of, and Mio isn't a dinosaur. I said control your breathing!_

"At the rate you're going, you're going to fix all of our problems by the end of the year." Mio chuckled, "Every time you help us win some battle, or volunteer yourself for something, I keep thinking that maybe after it you'll finally just settle down and take a break. Nope, you're right back in the action with hardly any downtime and not a complaint. I don't understand you sometimes, but I'm glad you're here."

"I'm glad I'm here too." I replied, hoping that didn't sound stupid. In all honesty, I really didn't feel all that heroic since I just got shuffled from one event to the next. I just wasn't capable of sitting back and watching evil run around unchecked. Helping people was in my nature, and I was a people person. In Japan, I provided food and drink to my friends, and here I provided safety and comfort by killing things.

Mio stirred a bit, adjusting herself so that she was comfortable, "When I was a little girl, I would dream about a noble knight rescuing me from evil. That knight would be brave, selfless, and pure of heart. You remind me of the hero I used to dream about, back when the world was so much more simple and I didn't have worry about demons, giants, and undead. In those dreams and fantasies, I'd watch that hero go about their adventures, and we'd live on happily ever after when all the evil was taken care of. Maybe there's a chance my fantasy will become reality, since you _are_ my knight after all."

I blushed and giggled to myself, "I'm not the only hero here though. There are so many people brave people working so hard to keep you and Sakuragyfli safe. Sanya patrols the mountains every night for danger, Eila and Yui are there at the first sign of trouble, and Ritsu does whatever Ritsu does. She killed giants too, so she's right there with me in terms of heroics!"

"They do it because it's their job though." Mio told me.

"Their… job?" I repeated.

"Mhm, the Sentinels will be gone when Mugitsu is." She explained, "Ritsu is part of the militia, it's her duty. I respect them for their work, but you're different Mugi. Nobody is telling you what you're supposed to do, or signing your bank notes at the end of the week. That's what makes me admire you so much compared to the others. It's not too hard on you is it though? The last thing I want to hear is that you're unhappy doing what you do for us."

"Oh no, I help because I like helping." I assured her as best I could, "Yes it gets scary at times, or just about all of the time, but the feeling I get afterwards always makes it worth it. Don't worry though, I'll stay and do whatever I can…"

_"…since it doesn't look like I'll be going home."_ I finished the sentence in my head.

Our bath ended when Eila found us, and wanted to trade clothes back. We did so, drying, and leaving to meet Ritsu and Yui. I asked the Sentinel there if she knew where my weapons had ended up, and learned that she had locked in her room for safe keeping them in her room. I stopped in and retrieved them, said hi to Pickles the Cat, and went to begin our journey. My kitty didn't want to come, which was thoroughly disappointing. It seemed that he was making that room his new home, and had placed Fok's company above my own in priority. While I was there, I managed to get my clothes again. Eila kindly let me keep the white boots though, since they were a pretty good fit. She had several other pairs, so it was all good.

The four of us gathered outside of town, with Yui fully suited up in her kimono and the Murasame, Mio in her purple travel dress, Ritsu in her leather armor, and me in my pajamas and bathrobe. We were ready to rock.

"So…" Ritsu began, holding up the map and taking point just in front of Mio, "…According to this map we need to head twenty miles north, and should be there by nightfall. We can go through the Howling Valley since that stupid blizzard cuts off the main road."

"Howling Valley? Why don't I like the sound of that?" I spoke up. There were many things that howled, and most of them liked eating Mugi's.

"It's safe," Yui assured me, "you can thank Litvyak for that later."

"I will." I would.

Mio voiced a question from horseback, "Um, why am I the one on Ton-chan? I don't like being singled out like this."

"You're not being singled out," Ritsu answered, "Pretty ladies like you just shouldn't have to walk like on this cold, hard, snow covered ground."

"Oh, well, thank you then…" Mio blushed, looking the other way. I saw a hint of surprise on her face, but at least she wasn't getting angry. She looked back at Ritsu and asked, "But if pretty ladies don't have to walk, why is Mugi still on the ground. This horse seats two."

I choked on air due to surprise at that statement.

"I paid for the horse, I make the rules!" Ritsu stated, proudly puffing out her chest, "Besides, Mugi doesn't mind walking, does she?"

"I don't." I nodded, then glanced at Yui, "What about you, Yui-chan? I have the upper body strength to give you a piggyback ride for at least ten out of these twenty miles."

"No thanks." She gave a light smile. I knew it was fake, but at least she was going through the effort to display it. It was a shame though, I liked carrying cute girls on my back.

The trip was very pleasant as we hiked down the snowy road through the pine forests, north in the mountains. Sure I was bitterly cold, jealous of everyone with their magic rings, but I kept on walking with a smile. It was still early, not even noon yet as we set out, and as we walked, I had this thought.

_Mugitsu recognized me and claims to have known me, hinting that my own double exists somewhere here. What if, like, the two of us had switched places somehow? Now there was some fantasy Mugi going around claiming to be from a different world and probably doing bad things. Not bad things intentionally, like raping or pillaging, but the kind of things that someone from this setting would do in a first world nation like Japan. Oh man, I don't think she'd be able to handle the luxuries of the 21__st__ century without loosing it. Plus, nobody here knows me so she wouldn't know anyone there, which takes away the advantage I started with. Or maybe there are mirrors of people she knew here living somewhere else on Earth. Right now, there could be a Tsumugi wandering around Finland right now crashing with friends she knew from this world. Finland's full of nice people, and if she, or me in this case, played piano too, she could get into a band easily. Now this statistic could be false, but if I remember right, 7/10 people in Finland are in, or have been part of, a metal band. Or are cosplayers._

Anyway, as we walked, Ritsu entertained us with the story of how she stood down a god during one of her inner-dimensional package deliveries. Since the militia didn't pay all that much beyond basic room and board for its members, Ritsu had taken this delivery-girl side job as a way to support her family living overseas. It wasn't just something anyone could do, she told me she was able to hop between dimensions because she was something called a _Psion_. I didn't know what a _Psion_ was, but apparently not many people could be one, so she was lucky. Going back to things about standing down a god, she told us about how she refused to give the god Surtur his messages from the other god Loki until he paid up.  
>"…and that's how I got those flaming arrows!" She finished, "But really, I'm starting to think of that Surtur is up to something. Like, he's got armies of fire giants marching around, and was saying some pretty unkind things about Odin. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Surtur's planning something against the guy."<p>

"That's silly," Mio dismissed her with a wave of her hand, "If he wanted to fight Odin, he'd have to go through Asgard's mighty walls. Not to mention that Thor and his brothers would be right at the gates at the first sign of danger. Surtur may be a god, but they've been fighting giants for at least a thousand years."

"Just saying." Ritsu shrugged.

Not wanting to be left out, I also added to the conversation with, "Plus Odin has the move Zantetsuken?"

"I think a god could cut through iron, yes." Mio nodded, since the translation for _Zantetsuken _was iron-cutting sword. I realized that drawing facts from the _Final Fantasy_ franchise was a silly thing to do.

"I've read extensively on the events of Ragnarok since I came here." Yui said. The phrase 'read extensively' just seemed wrong coming from her. "The wise Mimir claims that no matter what happens, the Aesir and Vanir will fight to the death. During that, Surtur will burn all of Midgard to ash and all will perish in fire. If such a thing were to happen, we Sentinels would ascend our battles against the unholy to another plane of existence and move on."

Mio had a scared look on her face, and I understood why. She was a bit of a scholarly type, reading books and such, and had told me of some things she had learned. This 'Ragnarok' foretold the war of the gods, and how pretty much everything ever was supposed to die. There were many signs pointing towards it, as Mio had pointed out to me, and it was starting to become more and more of a real thing. What I didn't understand, was if everyone knew about it, why wasn't anyone trying to stop it? I didn't know about everyone else, but I happened to like my Takuan uncooked.

"Stop being so morbid!" Ritsu scolded Yui after seeing the look on Mio's face. She went to smack the Sentinel upside the head, but Yui was too quick and grabbed her by the wrist. The brunette effortlessly twisted Ritsu's arm and had the poor girl on her knees.

"Mercy! Mercy! I'm sorry!" Ritsu cried, and Yui let her go, walking on like nothing happened. I giggled at them, feeling bad for our resident hairbandee. On the road antics! We were like a real adventuring party now! Oh, this was so exciting! Not to mention, our average party level was high enough that we were ensured victory over any kind of obstacle.

The valley we passed was quite beautiful with its lack of snow. Vibrant green grass covered its steep, rocky slopes. I saw numerous trails up the treacherous slopes, the kind that a certain white haired girl could have used to get a vantage point. The path below was covered in soft grass, and although cold, I slipped off my leather boots so that I could let me feet feel their comforting caress.

"Litvyak was the one that helped us deal with the pack of Winter Wolves that live in these hills." Mio explained to me as we walked through the grassy path, "That could have been bad for us, because Winter Wolves are smart, conniving, and terribly efficient predators."

_'Sounds like she's describing American health insurance companies'_ I thought to myself.

Ritsu sighed, looking up at the overcast sky, "Mio, remember when we were little and lived in Mikomi? When we didn't live in a city-state that was in a constant state of warfare against anything and everything around it? I remember the days when we didn't have to establish diplomatic relations with _wolves_ to ensure the well being of our people. Don't even get me started on the Waste Wyrm that lives in the wastelands between us and Mugitsu. That thing must be 30 meters long and can swallow cows in one bite! Normal nations don't have to deal with that."

"This isn't easy, I know." Mio said in a quiet voice.

Now Ritsu was ranting, "I honestly think that Sakuragyfli has it worse than anyone else! Those people from Canticeal can complain all they want about the whole 'thousand years of warfare against orcs' thing, but they had entire armies. We have handfuls of soldiers and that's it. Plus Mugi, and she has to count for at least a dozen people."

"Why thank you." I blushed.

We breaked once for lunch during out twenty mile hike. Moving at a quick pace was exhausting, but luckily, I was traveling light. There was one major issue we faced during our forced march. After drinking tea, nature swooped down upon us in the form of weak bladder control. In other words, we all needed to pee, and the closest restroom was miles behind us. Except for Yui, because Sentinels didn't have to pee or something; I don't know. What made this was a problem was Mio's ladylike behavior, for relieving one's self in the middle of the wilderness was beyond unbecoming. While I believed the same thing, I found this to be a new an exciting experience. Going outdoors was strangely liberating. Mio insisted on just holding it in until we got back.

The sun was setting as we neared Icenborgir, and Ritsu stopped, "Wait, you three hear something?"

We stopped, dead silent… Coming from the north, the same direction we were headed, a sound was carried by the wind. It was the sound of a woman shouting angrily at a little girl. The little girl was crying, but it was impossible to make out what they were saying.

"Sounds like a bandit attack or something." Ritsu whispered, drawing her longbow from her back.

Mio went pale, "W-We should do something then!"  
>She dismounted Ton-chan as Yui nodded, giving her input, "Yes, that would be the right thing to do in this situation."<p>

I made a fist, "With the four of us, bandits are toast!"

Ritsu was crouching low as she moved up, "Let's scout this out first. Mugi, come with me. You two stay back until we give the signal."

Yui and Mio nodded, and we went first since we had ranged weapons and they didn't. Well, Mio did, but it wasn't ladylike to charge into a battle first. That's what the rest of us were here for. Ritsu and I quickly moved north up the crest of the hill where the ground leveled. The road came to a fork, with one way going west further into the wilderness, and the other leading east into the mountains; presumably to Icenborgir. At this crossroads was the remains of a stone building now leveled and covered with snow, and it looked ancient.

Two people were there, and I recognized both, causing my eyes to go wide. One of which was a certain black haired and armored villain who claimed to be my sister. She had her back turned to us, and her sword drawn towards a tiny girl who was trying to crawl away from her.

"Either way, you'll die, so just tell me where it is!" Mugitsu growled, kicking the other girl hard with her metal boot.

The other girl was bruised, bloody, and beaten by Mugitsu. Her dark green, stylish capris were torn to ribbons, and I could see various cuts from where I was. The equally stylish black shirt with a kitty face on the front wasn't in much better condition. The girl had two black pony-tails done up. This girl was Azusa.

Her breathing was haggard as she tried to get away from her attacker, panting as she did so, "No, I wouldn't ever let someone like you have it!"

Of course I didn't know what 'it' was, but since Mugitsu wanted it, and Azusa was defending it, 'it' was probably something major. Whatever this major thing was, it was probably not something we wanted Mugitsu having. It was getting harder and harder to believe she wasn't just an evil monster when she was brutalizing a sweet little girl like Azusa the way she was. That was it, I wasn't standing by to let this happen.

"Hey!" I made my presence known, marching towards them, "Why don't you pick on someone your own size!"  
>Cliché, but it got her attention. The black haired menace turned around to face me, a happy smile on her face, "Oh, dear Onee-chan, I didn't expect to see you so soon! And you brought a friend!"<p>

Ritsu had an arrow ready, and her bow trained on Mugitsu. She shouted out a warning, "You even look at Mugi wrong and you'll have an arrow through your neck, got it?"

Mugitsu laughed, which she did a lot, "Oh that's adorable, you think you could hurt me. Good to see you Onee-chan, but I need to be off soon. Just as soon as this troublesome girl here tells me where she hid the _Book of Vile Darkness_."

"Leave Azusa-chan alone!" I shouted, mustering up courage and emotion I had never displayed in my own world. Sword-chan floated next to me, ready to bring Mugitsu down if anything happened. In my hand was that conductor's wand I got from Sanya.

"Or what?" Mugitsu tilted her head. Our distraction worked, Azusa was now able to flee away towards the wilderness.

"We'll...we'll fight you!" I answered. Behind us Yui and Mio were joining us, with Mio being on foot now.

Yui rushed over to me, her sword in hand. It had begun to rain as she said, "We can end this conflict here once and for all."

"Right, let's do this!" Ritsu cheered.

"G-Give up Mugitsu, you can't fight the four of us." Mio stammered, trying to be brave.

Our adversary chuckled again, drawing her sword, "It's almost a fair fight, but they don't call me a _death witch_ for nothing."

The rain around us turned to snow in the bitter cold, and was picking up heavily, just like the battle with Poshkt. In an instant, the four of us were on her with our combined attacks. Sword-chan flying forward through the snow, followed by a flaming arrow, a bolt of lightening from Mio, and that magical slash from Yui. All our problems with Sakuragyfli were now going to be solved in one instant.

Except everything just stopped, simply stopped. I couldn't move, and all our respective attacks were frozen in place. All color around me drained, save for Mugitsu with black armor, and nothing moved; save for her. She casually stepped out of the way of it all, stopped, and began drawing kanji in the air with her finger. I couldn't decipher what the kanji's were, but I had a feeling this wasn't going to be anything good.

Time flowed normal again, color returned, and the crumbling stone wall behind were Mugitsu had been standing was blown to bits from our failed barrage. _Winter Madness _by _Wintersun_ also started playing because it was epic battle music, and all hell broke loose around me. All of a sudden, there were about seven Mugitsu's standing in the same place, and now they all looked like they were composed entirely of iron. Either that was just a really cool party trick, or we now had to guess which one was the real one and hope anything could pierce that iron.

Sword-chan went from spear heading an attack, to defending me from the third thing Mugitsu had done in her time stopping thing. There were now meteors raining down on us. Giant, flaming balls of molten rock that exploded on impact. My trusty sword companion was meeting them dead on, slashing through the air and making them explode before they could squash me. Me, I was running back towards Mio to get out of this exploding hell. Sword-chan was doing a good job, and despite the intense heat all around me, and bits of debris I was getting pelted with, I was okay.

Ritsu was also running back, expertly dodging those small meteors as they came down around her. Like Sword-chan, Yui was able to destroy the meteors with the slash of her Murasame before they reached her. Everything was chaotic now as the meteors came to a stop, leaving fire everywhere around us. Yui was on her in an instant, some how sword fighting with seven opponents at once. It didn't look like a fight though, it looked more like a graceful dance between two beautiful dancers. With every swing of her katana, another Mugitsu disappeared. It took only a few seconds before it was just the one iron one, gracefully stepping away from each of Yui's attacks. Then they clashed, with Yui holding her Murasame with both hands firm, and Mugitsu using only one hand to fight with her silver long sword.

I wanted to intervene with my wand somehow, but I didn't want to hurt Yui either. Ritsu must have been thinking the same thing, because she was holding her arrows as well. All we could do was watch as the two combatants moved at inhuman speeds. They were blur, swords clashing, ducking, weaving, dancing around one another in patterns too quick for my mind to follow. It wasn't just my untrained eye, they really _were _moving faster than normal.

Mio had stepped close to me, and had her finger raised to draw magic air kanji. She was intently watching the fight, and said to me in a fast voice, "I just need Hirasawa to make Mugitsu back away enough for the three of us to attack in unison again. I have just the right spells."

The two warriors stopped their dance, facing off against another, completely still, both breathing hard. Mugitsu kept her blade out towards Yui, speaking to her, "You're a much more formidable opponent when I'm not stabbing you in the back. How long have you been practicing?"

"My father was a sword smith, my sister and I grew up around blades." Yui answered. I hadn't actually expected her to reply at all.

Mugitsu nodded, "Mhm, that explains it. I'll admit it, you're better than me, but you forgot one thing…"

"What's that?" Yui was inching away from her.

"I'm a _mage_." Her free hand quickly drew a kanji in the air. Yui held up her sword as if to block the impending attack. I glanced at Mio, and saw that her eyes were wide with fright. This was probably a bad thing.

Mio stepped forward and shouted, "_Hirasawa! Move!"_

Too late, Mugitsu casually pointed her finger at Yui and us three onlookers cried out in unison. Yui was blown back by some unknown force, but it wasn't like something out of an anime where she just got knocked back and that was it. No, I watched in horror as some unseen magical force blew _through _her. Yui screamed, I mean _screamed_, the kind of scream that I couldn't ever forget. It was the scream that only pure and utter torment could make some one release.

It was like watching her in slow motion as she flew back several meters. Her tummy was pressed inwards by that invisible force, then exploded out her back in a shower of gore, blood, and bone fragments. The only thing I could equate that to was taking a shotgun blast pointblank. Her body tumbled several times, landing in a crumpled heap in the open snow. That snow was turning red around her.

"_Yui-chan!_" I screamed, hoping saying her name would undo the horror I had just watched. It didn't matter what this woman said, Mugitsu was _not_ my sister in this world or any other. Such a heartless, uncaring monster could not be related to me in anyway. Seeing Yui hurt like that, something in me broke free. A primal, embedded anger that I didn't know could have even existed within me. I drew my Masamune, my intent to butcher Mugitsu and slice her into tiny bite sized pieces that crows could happily eat or make into bird treats. The red of Yui's blood clouded my vision, it was all I could see as I sprinted headlong at the one who hurt my friend.

Mugitsu casually drew a kanji and pointed at me. My mind quickly registered this, and my eyes went wide from fright when I imagined the same thing happening to me.

"No." She said, and I just stopped. Frozen in place, unable to even blink. Flaming arrows deflected off of Mugitsu's magical iron coating; one even off her forehead. My hearing was gone too, so all I could do was stand there being cold and unable to move.

I saw Mugitsu mouth 'no' again, pointing at Ritsu's direction and the arrows stopped. Mio was behind me, now the only one left in this doomed fight. She had taken out that bandit mage before, so maybe there was hope. That iron skin Mugitsu had over her vanished, and my hopes were just a little stronger. Until she made another kanji, mouthed the word 'no', and began walking backwards. She then stopped, like she remembered something, then turned to face me.

My heart was exploding in rapid beats brought upon by terror. With how she had blown a hole straight through Yui and rained meteors down on us, I was terrified she had a special trick in store for me. Would she stab me through the heart with her silver sword? Light me on fire? Turn me into a ferret? Take away my ability to discern the tastiest cakes? Mugitsu stepped towards me with small strides, hips swaying ever so slightly as her long black hair flew in the whipping wind. Yui's blood was dotting her face.

My fear increasing tenfold as she was arms reach away from me, I braced for the worse. Unable to close my eyes, I stood and watched her… kiss me on the lips? That was right, cold, dry lips press against mine for a brief second or two. I didn't understand, was this all some kind of ploy to, what, confuse me? Either way, she had stolen my first kiss and it left me feeling robbed. I understood what this was now. It was an attempt to humiliate me and steal something precious from me.

She mockingly waved goodbye at me, smiling, as her ride out arrived. It was that lizard monster thing I had seen earlier when I first met her. In the full light, I could see how serpentine it was, nearly 10 meters long, and more a sickly green color instead of the gray I originally thought it was. It almost looked like a dragon, but the regality associated with such creatures was absent from this thing. It was horrible, ugly, and looked like it didn't want to be alive. Plus it had no wings or hind legs, which made me question how it got around.

Mugitsu hopped on to its spiny back, and the monster somehow flew off with its master in tow. I was left standing there, stuck with my thoughts, my anger subsiding into horrible fear. Was Yui dead now? What about everyone else? I couldn't see any of them, and had no idea how long I was going to go be stuck this way. Since my blonde hair was blowing in my eyes from the wind, I knew I wasn't turned to stone or anything, but I was still scared. I could feel the snow beginning to pile up on my arms, and I would surely freeze to death if left like this for long.

I couldn't help but feel this was entirely my fault for marching in without any sense of caution. I had gone into a battle forgetting we were essentially fighting to the death. Part of me hadn't really registered that, and I guess I thought that Mugitsu would drop her sword, give up, and become friends with us.

I was naïve in a dangerous way.

After some amount of time I felt someone's hands gently clutch my shoulders from behind. If I could have flinched in surprise, I would have. Their hands remained there for a moment, and finally my stasis broke. My knees wobbled and I fell forward a bit, but managed to stop myself from eating snow. Nearly falling again, I turned around to see who had broken the spell on me.

It was Mio, and it looked like she had been crying (who could blame her?). She gave me a quick, tight hug then frantically said, "Thank every single higher power that you're alright! Make sure Hirasawa is alright while I fix Ritsu, okay?"

"O-Okay." I nodded. My speech felt strangely surreal, like I was speaking in a dream. What did she mean by fix Ritsu though? A quick change in my facing answered that question.

"_Aaaahh!" _I couldn't help but yell out when I saw what Mugitsu had done to my hairbanded friend. It was the difference between simile and metaphor. She had made me _like_ a statue, but had made Ricchan _into_ a statue. Stuck in a pose where she was about to fire an arrow, a focused look on her face, she was now immortalized in stone. I wasn't sure how to react, because people I know turning to stone wasn't something that normally happened. Panic was setting in _again_, and it was incredible I hadn't had some sort of embarrassing accident during all this.

"D-Don't worry!" Mio-chan said to me as she quickly made her way to Yui, "I can fix her with my magic! She'll be okay. Yui too!"

Oh thank God that was a relief. She had said that before I started listing of prayers and promising to devote my life to Christ if both of them were alright. Sure I thought their religion was sweet, but I really wasn't prepared for lifelong fanatical devotion.

Like a frantic medic Mio did her magic stuff to save Yui, I think. I couldn't really tell with the snow flurries, but Mio wasn't screaming or crying now, so I took that a good sign. She looked awfully pale though as she moved from Yui over to Ritsu. As she passed me, I asked, "Is Yui-chan alright?"

"Y-Yes." Mio stopped, and nodded, "I s-stopped her b-bleeding but she's hurt very b-badly. The magic holding her won't last very long though…"

"Can't you heal her like you did with me?"

She shook her head, raven hair flowing in the heavy wind, "Mugitsu did something when she cast that spell. I thought it was just a normal spell to make me flee away in fear, but it was strong enough to stop my healing magic."

"But you said she would be alright?" I needed complete and total confirmation. To me, it looked like Yui had taken a shotgun blast point blank. Only people like Bruce Lee could survive stuff like that, and that's only because he could beat Chuck Norris.

"Yes. I couldn't heal her, but I was able to stop the bleeding just time. She'll be okay."

She made her way past me to petrified Ritsu. I was eager to see what she was going to do, but at the same time I wanted to check on Yui. I wasn't a doctor though, there wasn't much I could do for our wounded friend. With a dance of her fingers, Mio drew up the correct magical kanji to un-petrify Ritsu. It was a good thing that magic could undue magic, because if not, I could understand why witches would be under heavy scrutiny.

The stone encasing our head banded hero disappeared and she drew one deep, heavy breath. Then fired the arrow that had been ready in her hands. The flaming projectile zoomed through the air and took out of a loose strand of my fluttering hair. I could smell the fire from the arrow, and needless to say, my heart skipped a few beats.

"What happened?" Ritsu immediately asked, apparently unaware that she nearly gave me a new eyebrow piercing. Were eyebrow piercings like ear piercings where if you get one side done but not the other, people think you're gay? No, that only applied towards men, and it wouldn't really matter since I would be dead anyway. I've really fallen far if I'm this casual about my own mortality now. I really _was_ an adventurer now!

"Mugitsu cast a _flesh to stone_ spell on you." Mio quickly explained, now going over to check on Yui-chan again, "A _power word: stun _on Mugi, and a _fear _spell on me."

"That's it…" Ricchan growled, putting her bow away, "I'm carving her name individually into each of the 45 arrows I have left!"

Mio was now crouched down over Yui, "She's going to be alright, but keeping her out here with us is dangerous. We need to take her back to Sakuragyfli for proper rest and healing."

I stood next to her, head held low, "I'm sorry, this is my fault. If I hadn't brought this whole thing up, we wouldn't have gotten into trouble."

"You couldn't have known Mugitsu would be here harassing that poor girl." Mio looked up and told me. There was a comforting smile on her face, "We probably saved her life too. Let's go back and try again in the future."

"Wait, we came too far to just go back now!" Ricchan objected.

Mio looked over at her, "Hirasawa is gravely wounded though! We can't go up against dragons with her like this!"

"I have a plan!" Ricchan said, puffing out her chest, "You carry back Hirasawa to Sakuragyfli while Mugi and I get the dragon's hoard. We don't need to kill them or anything, just rob them blind. Take from the dragons and give to humans. It'll be like Robin Hood except the local taxing government won't crack down with martial law and make life unbearable for the subjects out of retaliation."

I nodded my head, "She's right. There's nothing saying we _have _to kill dragons. I believe we all just assumed we would have to without really thinking about it. Maybe if we ask nicely, the dragons will give us the stuff we need for Yui-chan!"

Ricchan threw her arm around my shoulder, "Mugi's right! We can turn this into a stealth mission. We take this bag of holding I have here and load it up on any gold, loot, or magic items we find."

"And the _potion of cure melancholy_." I reminded her. The item was never officially given a name, so I named it that. It fit with most of the other named things in this world.

"That too. To be honest, I came along looking for some cool magic items. Like a pair of _gauntlets of dexterity +6._" Ricchan admitted.

Mio gave us a concerned look, "It will be too dangerous for the two of you to go alone. Just come back with me and we'll return later when Hirasawa is fully recovered."

"What part of stealth aren't you getting?" Ricchan objected again, "We're not kicking in the door , we're being sneaky! If we keep all stealthy-like, then the dragons won't see us. You have nothing to worry about!"

"B-But, Mugi would be in danger." Mio's voice was hardly above a whisper. I was touched by her concern though. She looked at us, we looked at her, and she knew that Ricchan wasn't backing down. I wasn't either, because I wanted to see Yui-chan smile again so badly. Ricchan was brave, I was caring, and neither of us were turning back until we got what we wanted. Mio stood up, and brushed snow off her dress.

"I…guess I'll head back with her then…" She said in a low, sad voice, "You two promise to be safe, alright?"

"We won't do anything to put ourselves at risk," I assured her, then added, "Besides, uh, going into the dragon's lair."

Her arms were around me, hugging me tight, like it would be the last time we ever hugged. Ricchan joined in, and soon it was a big group hug between the three of us.

My bravery towards this whole adventure wasn't quite as strong as it was when we set off. We were down to two of us now. But I had seen Azusa! She looked like normal Azusa though, not all fantasy-ifed. Could it be that she had come after me? What was that book she had been talking about though? It must be important if she didn't want Mugitsu to have it. Speaking of which, I still couldn't believe Mugitsu had stolen my first kiss! That actually made me mad when I really thought about it. I was more mad at that than her trying to kill me.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Standard Author's Notes- **__The entire scene after the Mugitsu fight took me weeks to write. Getting Mugi's emotions down into words was hard enough, but getting the flu was what really set me back. I'm also creatively swamped with other projects, so the production pace of this story probably won't be speeding up anytime soon. Because of that, I'll try to fit in elements of action, plot, developing romance, and humor all into each chapter. _

_**DM'ing Tip From Tastychainsaws- **__If you ever need a good boss for any Dungeons and Dragons game, prepared spell casters are the way to go. As seen by Mugitsu in this chapter, and prepared party can be cut down to size by a mage who knows what they're doing. For anyone familiar with the game, the spells Mugitsu cast this chapter (in order) were- time stop, iron body, mirror image, haste, transformation, meteor swarm, disintegrate, power word stun, flesh to stone, and fear. _


	11. The Bigger They Are

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 11**

**THE BIGGER THEY ARE THE COOLER THEY ARE TO KILL**

So it was up to me and Ricchan to go steal from a dragon. I had many thoughts swirling in my head about Yui-chan, seeing Azusa, getting kissed by this story's villain; and how despite the summary going on about yuri, there was no yuri to be had. Although the definition of the word 'yuri' was rather sketchy, and there had certainly been plenty of shojo-ai so far. I had been kissed, which sort of counted. If anything though, I was false advertising so people would read about my tale. Speaking of which, if I returned to Japan, it was going to be fun living another 70 years after my time here with nobody ever believing me about it. That was precisely why the _Chronicle's of Narnia _were unbelievable. Those kids just jumped back into ordinary life like nothing had happened even though they had been gone for years in that first book!

"…and that's how I got through _The Demonweb Pits_ alone!" Ricchan finished telling me a story I hadn't been listening too. That was rude of me to just ignore her. The only parts I remembered was her description of how she slew the hill giant chieftain after going through his hall, and then something with dark elves; I don't know.

We were walking side by side up a steep, rocky path into the mountains towards Icenborgir. Our trail ended in a snowy plain with the crumbling remains of stone buildings all across it. Beyond them was a tall fortress tower against the mountains; presumably our destination. Walking through the ruins of some old, destroyed town was rather unnerving though.

Curious, I asked, "Ricchan, what is this place?"

"It's the ruins of _Old Sakuragyfli_, before the _Fifty Skirmish War_ reduced it to this." she answered, further explaining, "Mio's dad was related to the old king here, and inherited what was left back at Sakuragyfli now. That war is the one that had all the warlords that we told you about a few times before, the one that left only Mugitsu standing. Of course, she's out in the wastes so nobody could get to her anyway. That tower there is Icenborgir, where Bitterhearth lives now."

"I hope he's a friendly dragon."

Ricchan laughed once. "Oh Mugi, don't be silly! White dragons are the most feral and vicious of their kind. Thankfully the weakest, but still big enough to rip us limb from limb and use our bodies for some horrible bloodletting ritual to gain strength from our purity."

I stopped, turned around, and began walking back the way we came. "In hindsight, I really think Mio had the right idea with going home!"

Her hand grabbed my shoulder before I could start properly making my premature tactical withdrawal. "Mugi, no! We can't give up before we even begin!"

"Yes we can. In fact, I'm doing it right now!" I cheerfully replied. The ground below me was icy and with Ricchan's grip on me, it was effectively like walking on a very cold treadmill.

She spun me around and held up her fist. "Mugi… I almost hate to do this to you…"

_What is she doing? Is she going to knock me out and drag me along unconscious, then wake me up later after looting the dragon's hoard then have her way with me? No, that sounds more like Mugitsu's thing. While I would be flattered if that vile veined villain felt strongly for me, I just am not okay with putting 'non' in front of 'consensual' when it came to romance. Now if it were Ricchan on the __other hand with her tomboyish figure and… shiny forehead… things would be different. Wait, what am I thinking about here?_

"What are you doing?" I gasped, thoroughly horrified at the idea of internal party conflict.

"This!" Ricchan took off her shiny red magic ring of warmth and handed it to me, "You always are shivering and look so cold. I bet all you need is one of these to warm you up and give you some courage."

With shaking, grateful hands, I took that ring and slid it onto my naked right ring finger. The thing was more lovely than any diamond engagement ring from any prince from any fairy tale. Instantly, my joints loosened, warmth shot throughout my body, and my shirt was no longer defiled impure by the sharpness of two rebellious nipples inspired to rise by the onslaught of cold. Now warm and comfortable, I could be poetic about my breasts. Ricchan was right, since my sweat wasn't flash freezing, I _did_ feel a lot better. I didn't feel a lot better, I felt absolutely brilliant!

"I…I…" Everything was so much better now! What was I supposed to say that could properly thank her? If it wasn't clear from me complaining about it for nine chapters, I _hated_ the cold. Above all else in Sakuragyfli, the one thing I loathed more than vrock demons planting spores in my skin, charnel hounds slicing me in half, or my first kiss being stolen was how _fucking_ cold it was. Yes, there, it's out, I used the most vulgar of all English words to describe my anger towards this. I would take spending a week with Miyuki and her demon-spawn cousin Sakamoto over having to deal with how cold it was here. It wasn't until being bathed with glorious warmth that I realized how much the idea of being cold again filled me with dread. This was paradise now.

"I was wondering how you put up with the below freezing temperatures all the time," Ricchan giggled at the look of ecstasy on my face, and the stars shining in my eyes. "If you were so cold, why didn't you just ask for one of these rings? I have like four in my back pocket right now."

"I…thought…" I was tripping over words now, barely able to contain my smiling. Even bundled up in blankets, or being around a fire only fought off some of the bitter cold. This ring though, _this ring_, was like I was sitting in Okinawa on a summer's day. So I hugged Ricchan as tight as I could. "…I thought these rings were some kind special thing that only citizens of Sakuragyfli got and that there wasn't enough for me to have one without taking it away from someone who already had one!"

Ricchan laughed and hugged me back, _so warrmm._ "Don't be silly, we order these in bulk from a manufacturing plant in Lesfain. I can't imagine how you put up with the cold for so long, and avoided freezing to death or getting frostbite. See, dragon slaying isn't scary when you're nice and content, is it?"

"No. It isn't," I said, still hugging her.

Several minutes passed.

"Mugi?"

"Yes?"

"You can stop hugging me now."

"Oh, right!" I let go of her. I had lost my self in the moment. How embarrassing.

We began walking again, holding hands for some reason. Maybe it was just my new found warmth, but all of a sudden I was very thankful to know Ricchan. If I ever went back to Japan, I was going to miss the axe-throwing, Mio-loving variant of Ritsu Tainaka. I'm sure anyone else who ever ended up in a different world had to go through the same dilemma. Because, I wasn't the first to have this happen to them, was I?

As we crossed that bit of a distance to Icenborgir, there was something on my mind that I felt Ricchan would know the answer to.  
>"Ricchan, what are those <em>Choosers of the Slain<em> I hear about every now and then. People say I look like one."

"You must mean Valkyries," she replied. I nodded, since I had heard that used, and she continued, "They're also called _Battle Maidens_ as well. I've seen them before, and they do look almost exactly like you. Except their eyebrows are narrower, and they have shiny armor and winged helmets. They fly down on winged horses and carry the dead to Valhalla to become Einherjar. Supposedly they're immortal and will join the Aesir at Vigrior's battlefield when Ragnarok happens. If I were you, I'd say I were one of them and maybe get some cool privileges when people think you hang out with gods. Not that I do, though."

"Okay, that explains a bit. Thank you," I said, smiling again for some reason. We were near Icenborgir, and it grew ever larger as we approached the dilapidated walls surrounding it. I'm sure if this were a movie, some ominous doom metal track would play as we moved closer. Something like _Estatic Fear's Chapter 1_, even if this was chapter 11.

The skeletons encased in ice like they had been flash frozen certainly didn't raise my spirits in the slightest. Through the small courtyard, we passed a good dozen warriors reduced to skeletons and trapped in small pillars of ice. Their armor was tattered, their weapons rusted, and they certainly didn't look recent. From what I had gathered from conversation between Mio and Ritsu, this place must have been at least a decade abandoned.  
>Ricchan explained in a low voice, "These are Bitterhearth's trophies, and…<em>look!<em>"

She pointed towards the east (we had come from the south, going north). Flying just over the peaks in the distance were the blurry shapes of five winged reptilian monsters. They were flying _away_ from us, out towards what had been dubbed 'The Wastes' where Mugitsu liked to hang around. Maybe they saw her scary serpentine monster and were territorial? I could vaguely make out their white-ish gray color, and saw that the one leading their wing was _much_ larger. Could that be the legendary Bitterhearth?

Ricchan began laughing hysterically. "_Ahahahahaha YES!_ Mugi, they're going out to hunt! This means we can take _everything_! YES! YES! YES! WE'RE GOING TO BE RICH YES HUG ME!"

If only to stifle her frantic screaming, I happily hugged her. Oh who was I kidding? I loved hugging! And I love not having the threat of a dragon flash freezing me under his frozen breath! Despite nearly having a friend die, and my kissing virginity being stolen via kissing rape, this was turning out to be a good day. Or at least average if I balanced the good in the bad. I could go to sleep content with that.

The entrance to Icenborgir consisted of two large stone doors, some three meters high. Ricchan unceremoniously kicked them in, to which they immediately shut again. It was a cool kick though, but we'd have to push them open normally. I had the feeling that Ricchan was just as clueless as to what she was doing as I was. Beyond these weathered stone doors was a rather bland looking great hall. It looked like all the furniture and decorations that I would have expected in a castle-like structure were gone. Instead, we were in a dim, empty chamber covered with a fine layer of dust. The dragons used another way to enter and exit, so it made sense that they wouldn't ever come in here. Our footsteps echoed across the empty room as we walked side by side through, unsure of our own destination.

"Where are we supposed to go?" I whispered, just in case there were guard dogs or the like hiding somewhere. Guard dogs in this case would probably be undead, frost giants, or whatever that thing Mugitsu rode around on was. That thing was _scary_.

"To the treasure room!" Ricchan happily replied, marching forward like she knew where to go. "All dragons have to have one, or at least that's what all the story books say. Rooms filled with gold, gems, art, and magic items. I have this little bag of holding right here to hold it all!"

She untied a little purple bag from her belt, holding it up for me to see. It looked barely big enough to hold more than an apple or two.

"Uh…" I exhaled, looking at it, "You'll have to explain to me how this is going to work."

Smiling, she stuck her hand into it, then her wrist, then everything up to elbow. How convenient, she had a bag that had extra dimensional space to carry things! If only I had something like that back at home for my keyboard.

"Oh, how useful!" I exclaimed, holding my hands together behind me. Now I understood why she was so excited about magic items. If I had a bag of holding, I would fill it with soft pillow so I could empty them in case I ever fell from a very high distance. That way I could survive falling out of a 747 at cruising altitude. Think of the options that would open up!

Ricchan and I stayed in the great empty hall and looked around just a little bit. There were plenty of old looking doors leading to various new rooms to explore. My head banded partner threw a suggestion towards me. "I think we should split up and both look for a way to the treasure."

"Isn't that dangerous though?" I asked. Were I in charge of guarding my treasure, I would protect it with things like guards, traps, alarms, and a polite little old lady like the one who lived near me who would stop me on the street on the way to school to happily tell me about her grandkids going to university and was too polite and kind for me to excuse myself because I didn't want to come off as rude so she could be used to effectively detain thieves going after treasure for at least a few hours.

However, this dragon did not think like me and was relying on sheer intimidation to keep intruders away. I wasn't one to be intimidated by such things as dragons though! Or I was just too stupid to fully understand the danger of what I'm doing, but either way, we were going after treasure. Ricchan said that if I was afraid of traps, then it would be best for me to wait in the main hall while she scouted the place out. I was worried about her of course, but she assured me that with her uncanny evasion, and ambidexterity, she would be fine.

I had absolutely no idea what being ambidextrous had to do with anything, but she was certainly proud to boast that.

So I waited alone in that hall and listened to her distant footsteps and the sounds of various squeaky doors opening. I hated being alone like this, and it always made me feel like I had to go the lady's room. Just like when playing hide and go seek, I mentally scolded myself for not going _before_ marching into the scary abandoned ruins. This was the kind of thing I needed to stop forgetting.

It wasn't before long that I heard Ricchan's voice cheer, "Mugi, get over here!"

Following the sound of her voice, I made my way towards the end of the great hall, near where the throne would have been, and passed through an open door. It lead to a spiral, stone stair well leading up into the higher levels of the tower fort. That wasn't what she was trying to show me though. Behind those stairs was an ice covered little tunnel about the size of a sewer passage leading downward into the unknown at a steep angle. It was just the perfect size for both us to walk through, but certainly too small for dragons. Convenient though.

"Looks like they have a special entrance for non-dragons," Ricchan commented, slowly stepping into the foot of the tunnel. There was lots of ice, but enough clear spots in the rock for us to walk without having to worry too much about the descent turning into a Slip And Slide from icy hell.

I followed behind her, walking slow and still enjoying the warmth from my new ring. Carefully, I stepped from the spots free from ice, grabbing on the rocks on the walls to help keep my balance. It dawned on me how incredibly dangerous and stupid this was, but it was for the greater good.

Because (skip this paragraph if economic talk bores you) beyond saving Yui-chan's smile, Ricchan's looting idea was a good one. Sakuragyfli was clearly in economic turmoil with the majority of the people living in poverty and working long days just to feed themselves. Even the room I slept in at the inn didn't have a real bed, and there were many complaints about the cheep beer made from 'Teethplant Hops'. From my observations, I gathered that there was simply not enough gold circulating through the community for people to spend and earn, and no more currency was being minted as far as I knew. So basically the situation could only get worse. The mountains surrounding Sakuragyfli were loaded with mineral resources and crude oil that the neighboring nation of Varyag would gladly pay for. The problem was, the dangers plaguing the mountains bordering The Wastes made it so that the workers needed armed protection to safely work. This ended up being so costly though that it ended up costing _more_ to extract these resources then Sakuragyfli got back out of it. Timber was also another bountiful resource, but Aibureido was the only nation that needed it (they were an island chain and had no large quantities of evergreens to use). _Another _problem for Sakuragyfli was that they had no safe port, making trade with an island nation difficult to obtain while making a profit. What little gold that was here was circulated over and over again through the community and was only diminishing. The exchange rate for minted currency was 10 coppers made a silver, and ten silvers made a gold. A copper was roughly worth as much as a single yen. Tens of thousands of gold (which Ricchan claimed a dragon would have) would vastly increase the standard of living for these people if it was properly regulated to prevent hyperinflation. Of course I wouldn't be above assuming that a dragon would part with his sum of gold without any sort of protest. Bitterhearth was like a grumpy old banker hoarding his wealth and damaging the economy though. When I got back and pitched my ideas to Mio and possibly her father, I would attempt to have them strike a deal with Bitterhearth. He could be regularly given gold if he kept The Wastes clear from the men working to gather minerals and oil to sell to Varyag. One dragon surely would be easier to pay then twenty foot soldiers. Combined with interest over the years based on the growth of the project, both Bitterhearth and Sakuragyfli could end up very wealthy in a decade or so.

This tunnel of rock and ice lead into a _much_ larger cavern chamber of more rock and ice. This time there were shiny pillars of ice that were absolutely beautiful to look at. There were more tunnels leading into other caves, all dragon sized now. I could only stare in amazement at the sheer size and beauty of this artificial wonderland around me. Clearly Bitterhearth and his dragon comrades had carved this out and did a bit of decorating, and I certainly was impressed.

"It's so amazing…" I dreamily muttered as I followed behind Ricchan. My foot stepped in something wet, which was odd since this cavern had temperatures well below freezing. I looked down to see that I had stepped in some puddle of blue liquid. It's rippling surfaced shined as the ice around us reflected off of it. It made me wonder what was providing this cavern with illumination too. We were underground and there were no lights, it should have been pitch black.

What was this blue stuff though? It smelled familiar. I bent down and stuck my finger in it, feeling safe since it had dissolved my boot. The smell was _really _familiar though, like it was something I had drank before. Without thinking I stuck the tip of my finger in my mouth and tasted it.

It was one of those energy drinks that my school sold for three times as much as a juice. What was it called… _Monster_? Yeah, that was it, and all the younger kids would get it and brag about the sugar rush it gave them. What was it doing here though?

"Mugi, that's disgusting!" Ricchan made a face and backed away from me.

"I don't really like energy drinks either, but aren't you overreacting?" I asked as I stood back up.

"What are you talking about? That's dragon pee you just stuck in your mouth." She backed away some more.

_Of course_ it was dragon pee. Stupid me, what else could it have been? And the cakes in the next cave will actually be their defecation, and the ginseng tea their sweat. How could I have thought this tasty blue beverage could have been anything else? I was being sarcastic, in my head, by the way.

"Oh… I…" I really wasn't sure what to say. "Let's just move on…"

"R-Right," Ricchan nodded. "I'll lead and you, uh, don't stick anything in your mouth."

"I'll do that, I mean not do that."

The place smelled funny as well, kind of reptilian in a way that difficult to describe. Reptilian mixed with that saw dust kind of smell that popular trendy stores seen in malls tended to have. Overhead, many giant icicles loomed above, each more than large enough to turn me into a messy, red pancake. I followed Ricchan, who was walking down the biggest icy cave we could find. There were many little side passages, so I had no idea if she knew where we were going at all. This time, I made sure not to taste any of the blue puddles we passed. Gosh, dragons were messy things.

It wasn't before long that Ricchan lead us into the biggest icy cave yet.

"Woo! Found it!" She jumped up in the air as she cheered.

Oh yes, she had found it indeed.

There was a _mountain_ of minted gold coins piled at least ten meters high in the center of this cave for anyone to just walk in and take. At the ceiling, there was a dragon sized tunnel leading to the surface, which explained how they got in and out. Amidst the shining coins were all sorts of jewels, weapons, what looked to be a vinyl copy of the White Album. Too bad no one had record players these days, or at all here.

"Okay," Ricchan stepped forward, getting her magic bag ready. "I'll start piling gold in here. You look for that potion thingy. All potions are conveniently labeled, _always_. Also, if you see anything else cool, let me know."

"Got it!" I gave her a salute and went to work searching. But where was I even supposed to start? There was a mountain here, and potions weren't even the size of melon sodas.

Speaking of which, I could have gone for a melon soda right then.

Believe it or not, but I actually found what looked to be a melon soda sticking out of the piles of coins. Sadly, when I read the label, it was actually something called a 'potion of cure light wounds'. That wasn't what I was looking for at all. There were a few other potions too, but they did stuff like make me breathe fire or jump higher. Breathing fire sounded dangerous, and I didn't need that second one at all.

Caucasian Japanese girls _could _jump just fine!

It took a bit, but I finally was able to find a potion with a handy label reading, '_Anti-Melancholy Cure For Children, Adults, And Dwarves_'. There was something written on the back as well, so I flipped it around read it quietly to my self.

"Not to be taken with alcohol, or be used in conjunction with other anti-melancholy agents. Don't take if you're pregnant or may become pregnant, don't take if you have high blood pressure, low blood pressure, blood clots, or know someone with blood clots. _Anti-Melancholy Cure For Children, Adults, And Dwarves_ does not protect against HIV or other STDs, and should not be used as an anti-contraceptive under any circumstance. Warning, side effects may include liver failure, heart failure, internal bleeding, external bleeding, bleeding from orifices below the waist, an uncontrollable urge to listen to the band _Slipknot_, lung cancer, prostate cancer, brain cancer, throat cancer, colon cancer, appendicitis, and there are recorded cases of users becoming air head."

All of a sudden I wasn't really sure if I should be giving this to Yui-chan, or anyone at all for that matter. What I was holding in my hands was not just a potion, but a second-degree murder trial waiting to happen. Something else caught my eye though. Two absolutely _beautiful _necklaces. They were both of thin gold chains, 24k it looked like (this was something I could tell just by looking) with a gorgeous sapphire stone on one, and ruby on the other.

All my life, Father had told me that stealing was wrong, even if he paid for our vacations by embezzling. However, it wasn't really _stealing_ if the dragons didn't have any use for it. They were giant horrible lizard monsters, so fine jewelry was useless to them.

_Wait, here I am grabbing potions while Ricchan is piling gold into that bag, why am I just NOW worried about stealing?_

With that thought in mind, I shoved those necklaces into the pockets of my pajama pants. Curiosity took over and I couldn't help but look around in this pile some more. The next thing I found was a shiny silver sword with a cross engraved on the pommel. It was glowing a faint white, and hummed in my hands when I held it.

"Say, Ricchan, what kind of sword is this?" I asked as I walked over to show her that.

"Oh, that's just a _Holy Avenger._ I don't think either of us really need that. Just put it back," she answered as she was trying to shove what looked to be a violin made entirely out of gold into her magic bag. I'm sure she knew buyers, because Ricchan certainly wouldn't tell me to put something called a _Holy Avenger_ back while piling something as impractical as a gold violin into her loot collection. How did he come across a violin made out of pure gold anyway? Has Bitterhearth ever been in any violin duels?

I put that shiny _Holy Avenger_ back. Maybe Ricchan was right, I didn't really need to avenge much of anything. Still curious, I meandered around the gold pile to see what was on the other side. When I did this, it dawned on me that both Ricchan and I _really, REALLY_ needed to be more aware of our surroundings.

Immediately, my nose was filled with the smell of chlorine as I wandered right in front of a sleeping beast. Sleeping in a little nest of treasure was a great white dragon, easily the size of a city bus from teeth to tail. It had a beaked nose, spiny dewlaps, and a crest supported by a single back-curving spine. Its scales were a collage of colors, featuring grays, whites, and blues of all shades. Those scales glistened like snow in the sunlight. The dragon would have been quite majestic to behold if its claws weren't the size of my head.

Panic really struck when I saw that all around this sleeping monster were bodies of people encased in thin layers of ice. It was sleeping in a bed of treasure, and it's bento all at the same time. I needed to be quiet, skillful, and smart if I wanted to get out of this without becoming a side dish. Without lifting my feet, I began slowly shuffling away on the ice back around the treasure. We got what we needed so now it was time to _go_.

But, seriously, this is the kind of thing that I needed to pay attention to. All my life, people said things like, _"Mugi-chan, you sure are spacy!_" My spaciness was harmless though, until now at least. Now I kind of regretted never taking people calling me spacy to heart. That way I would think to check for things like, oh, say, _dragons!_

As long as I was quiet, sneaky and-

"Heyuh Mugi-chan, find anything over here?" Ricchan asked, loudly. Very loudly. Very loudly and very close to the sleeping dragon.

_Oh please don't stir and wake up please don't stir and wake up please don't stir and wake up!_

The dragon stirred, and opened its eyes, waking up. It's black and blue eyes stared up at us, and its breath came out in this wisps of cold. Snarling, sounding like the singer for _Dying Fetus_, the dragon growled out, "_Thieves? Bitterhearth will be enraged when he find you!_"

If I didn't know any better, it sounded like the dragon was chuckling. I slowly stepped back, giving a awkward, panicked smile. "L-Look Mr. Dragon, we were just stopping into look around and admire how n-nice your place is. Uhh, we'll put back anything we were looking at. W-We were certainly not t-trying s-steal anything!"

"That's right!" Ricchan said from behind me, "I mean, I wasn't at least. Mugi here really had her eye on that _Holy Avenger_ sword."

"_RICCHAN!_" I turned around and screamed at her. I don't know if she was just trying to be funny or something, but to me it sounded like she was trying to do something like offer me as bait to aid in her own escape. At least, that's the way I took it.

She gave an innocent shrug and whispered, "Better one of us get out alive than none, right?" She then spoke up louder. "I tried to tell her not to touch anything, but she didn't listen!"

That felt like a kick to my heart. Ricchan was betraying me at the worst moment possible! This couldn't be real, because the Ricchan I knew would never do something like that. How could I have misjudged someone so much? It was now that panic was really setting in, because I was essentially entirely alone in this since _somebody_ decided to save her own skin.

"L-Look, Mr. Dragon, t-that's not how it is!" I frantically tried to explain.

"_Mr.?_" The white dragon repeated, "_I am not a male! I am the great Shiverclaw, mate of Bitterhearth and bearer of his powerful children!_"

"M-My apologies, I'm not f-familiar with d-dragons…" I squeaked, still stepping away. My mind worked quickly to formulate a plan of escape. I could attempt to just sprint for the exit, but the ground was slippery and I wasn't a really fast person; surely slower than something with four legs. Then there was the possibility that I could use Sword-chan and try to fight back; but it could probably breathe fire or something and roast me to a crisp. Wait, white dragons were all icy and stuff! I had played enough RPG's to know that icy things hated fire!

Quickly, I reached for the wand Sanya had given me, finally planning to use it for the first time. I didn't need to kill Shiverclaw, just scare her away enough to make a run for the exit and hide in Icenborgir until help arrived.

Shiverclaw stood up now on her hind legs, hunched forward. Even then, she was a good ten meters high from hind-claw to crest. There was something utterly terrifying about standing that close to a dragon, being that it was only five meters away from poor, little me. Somehow, I managed to not cry from fear, but… but… I did wet myself. There would be time to be embarrassed about that later. For now, all I could do is look up at the reptilian behemoth while quivering in fright.

No! I wouldn't let Mio-chan feel guilty after she told me expressly _not _to be here. Biting my lower lip and trying my best to not just outright faint, I pushed past my shaking self and rapidly beating heart to lift the wand to a conducting position.

Shiverclaw took a step forward, rattling the ground beneath me. Working as fast as I could, in a 250bpm tempo, I swished the wand.

_One, two, three, and-_

The dragon stepped forward again with a mighty stomp, and I felt my feet slide out from under me as I was on _four_. I fell backward and slammed into the ice, giving myself a nasty bruise on the back of the head and knocking the wind out of me. The wand discharged though, sending a fireball exploding above Shiverclaw, but not hurting her in the slightest.

_This is the end… my own clumsiness spelled my demise! I don't want to die though, there are so many things I still need to do!_

The fire cleared and Shiverclaw was now right over me, leaning back and inhaling.

_This is it, I go out by fiery death administered by dragon! _

Then the icesicle above her broke off and plummeted down. The shiny bolt of frozen water landed strait on the dragon's neck, going through it and decapitating the beast. Her massive, headless corpse landed next to me as her head flew into the pile of treasure. The icicle stuck out of the ground, and was now propping up her dead body as blood sprayed out from her neck.

Sprayed all over me, getting in my hair, clothes, and even mouth. Surprised to the point where I literally was unable to form coherent thoughts, I sat up, winced at my head, and spat the blood out. It tasted a lot like _Cherry Coke_, which was… I don't even have a way to express my opinion on that.

_So… I just killed a dragon! Not only killed it, but saved myself and Ricchan from certain, fiery death while getting a load of treasure. I'm not feeling much satisfaction out of this because the amount of dues ex machina that has seemingly occurred in the last 35 minutes is enough to make my head hurt. No, wait, that's the bump from me falling that hurts. Still, I'm glad to not be dead, but there is something surprisingly underwhelming about killing a dragon unintentionally. What am I saying? I'm not dead and we get all the treasure! I don't give a DAMN if it's underwhelming, because I'M NOT DEAD!_

"Mugi… you just…" Ricchan sounded as surprised as I was. She walked over to me and offered a hand to help me up. Her eyes went wide with panic. "Bitterhearth will be back at any moment. We need to get out of here!"

If she was right, then we were about to have five, very angry problems on our hands. She yanked me up and began sprinting back the way we came with me in two. My feet kept slipping on the ice, and I struggled just to stay on them. Beyond that, my head was pounding and the dizziness I was feeling was so strong that I felt like I could faint at any moment. Our sprint out of there was something I could barely remember. Just swirling images of ice, rock, then stone. When I finally collected myself, and got out of that surreal daze, we were then running through the ruins of Icenborgir. Exhaustion was now upon me and I needed to stop to catch my breath.

"R-Ricchan, stop!" I pleaded, struggling to take in air as my side burned from the run.

She did, also panting for breath. "Just for a moment, Mugi. We need to get back to Sakuragyfli and out of here _fast_."

I collapsed against the side of a ruined wall, pressing my back against it and slumping into the snow. Finally, able to collect my thoughts, I pointed at Ricchan and shouted, "You! You tried to use me as a scapegoat back there!"

"Mugi, we have more immediate problems-" I didn't let her finish.

"No! Don't try to put it off!" It was hard to talk with my exhaustion and building anger. "Y-You… I thought you were my friend Ricchan!"

"I am, I am!" She gave a defensive wave and put on a playful smile.

"_Then why did you do that?_" I shouted at her again. "Ricchan, t-this… this isn't funny at all! If it weren't for my blind luck with that shot, I'd be _dead_!"

"You wouldn't be dead, stop being so dramatic." She still had that smile, like she was trying to downplay this.

"Stop being so dramatic?" I repeated, then stood up over her. "I don't think you understand, Ricchan. Shiverclaw was reeling back to breathe fire on me!"

"White dragons breathe freezing cold, Mugi," Ricchan had the nerve to correct me at that moment.

"Whatever!" I began stomping past her.

"Where are you going?" Ricchan asked, like she cared what happened to me. What happened in that cave showed just how much she didn't.

"Back to Sakuragyfli where Mio is; where my real friends are!" I said back to her. It really took a lot for me to really not want to be someone's friend anymore. Heck, that Miyuki girl from junior high had routinely abused me and I still called her my friend. However, _trying to barter my life_ was where I drew the line. That was unforgivable, and I was having a tough time accepting that Ricchan would do such an awful thing. I knew out of _HTT_, she was definitely the most likely to do naughty things, but trying to get me killed so she could live?

"Oh don't be like this Mugi!" She called after me, but stayed where she was. "Look, you got out alive, so what's the problem? Sure I made a bad call back there, but I was scared! You peed yourself so you must have been scared too!"

Maybe I was being too hard on her, and maybe she _did _have a point about better one of us dies than both. I was going to say something, but a form walking towards us caught my attention. It was slender girl with twin pony-tails walking over here with a limp.

It was Azusa.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Author's Note Stuff- **__And another chapter draws to a close, with some of Ritsu's true colors beginning to show. We're getting closer to the half way mark and now Azusa is just about ready to include herself as a main character. It took awhile for me to fit her in, and I'm still working out the kinks in her backstory in all this. I want her to be as true to her anime self as possible, but that's really difficult with how music __plays such a small part in this setting's culture. I'll come up with something though, and she'll still be the grudging kouhai who desperately wants her senpai's do stuff._

_Also, I happen to kind of, uh, love music. It's my prime inspiration and this entire story was founded on me asking, "How can I write a K-On! Fic around this song?" So if you know any songs that remind you of this story, send them my way. I'd really appreciate it! Thanks in advance, and happy reading, Tasty._


	12. The Legacy Of A Dead Tsumugi

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 12**

**THE LEGACY OF A DEAD TSUMUGI**

**(This chapter also marks the return of line breaks!)**

"You… you saved my life." Azusa greeted me. Ricchan's footsteps were behind me, and I winced as I saw how beat up poor Azusa-chan was. Her arms were dotted with blue-black blots of bruises, mixed with faded cuts and scratches. How could Mugitsu be so cruel to harm someone so adorable?

"Of course I did, you were in trouble!" I pleasantly replied, my previous grumpy demeanor gone with the event of meeting an old friend here.

"That was the Death Witch of The Wastes, Mugitsu! You could have been killed!" She looked at me like I was both brave, and incredibly stupid. I was the first to admit that I was just a bit of both.

"But we weren't and neither were you," I reminded her, then realized that she had no idea who I was. "Oh, my name is Tsumugi Kotobuki, and this is my uh, _companion_, Ritsu."

"She means _friend,_" Ritsu, who was no longer Ricchan anymore to me, had the nerve to say. Friends didn't let other friends almost die!

Azusa gave us a slight bow, and I saw she had a magical warmth ring too. "Pleased to meet you, I am forever in your debt now! My name is Azusa Nakano, and I'm from the neighboring city-state, Nekonotochi. May I ask what you two were doing at Icenborgir? I was told that dragons live there, isn't it dangerous?"

Ritsu spoke before I could. "Yes, and I just got back from killing one!"

"Uh…" Was all I could say. Maybe today was 'Lie To Make Yourself Look Better And Nearly Getting Your Friend Killed Day' and nobody told me because they thought I already knew. Because, from what I saw, it looked like Ritsu was trying to take credit for something _I did_.

"A…A dragon?" Azusa's eyes went wide from amazement.

"Yep, a big 'ol white dragon," Ritsu said, giving this charming, smug smile that made me want to punch her lying little face in. "It put a bit of a fight, but I shot the thing down with a bunch of my arrows then cut its head off with one of my magical axes here."

She patted one of her covered axes at her belt to add emphasis to her lying lies.

_Why is Ricch- Ritsu acting like this all of a sudden? She wasn't like this at all before we went into that cave. She gave me a nice ring and was encouraging, and now she's being absolutely awful to me! Okay, it's time to stop being so introverted here and say something!_

"Um… t-that was ac-ctually…" My voice was this little squeak.

Ritsu interrupted me. "Of course Mugi here helped out by getting the dragon's attention, but it was me who did everything."

"I am honored to be in your presence then!" Azusa exclaimed with another bow. "You two are from Sakuragyfli, aren't you?"

"Yes, we are." I was the one to answer. If Ritsu thought I was going to put up with this, she was wrong. My time here had hardened me to some extent, and I was not a carpet to be walked upon anymore. I would stand up for myself!

"Then, may I go back with you? For reasons I can't say, I can't go back to Nekonotochi. I don't have any money either to pay for your escort, so I plead for your kindness."

_Aww, she's so cute!_

"Of course you can come with us!" I happily told her, desperately trying to extract what good that was left in this moment. "I don't have any money either, but nobody seems to mind that all my meals are free since I help Sakuragyfli against Mugitsu. I'll see if they'll let you have free food and board too. I could adopt you as my wingman and we could go on all sorts of adorable adventures together!"

Ritsu leaned close and whispered, "Do we really want to take in a stray?"

Azusa heard that, and flinched at the word. I gasped at how simply careless Ritsu was being now. Shoving her away, I scolded her. "Azusa here is not a stray! You took me in when I was alone in the wilderness and I've done more in Sakuragyfli in about a month than you have ever!"

_Or at least that's what Mio told me._

I continued, "Which means that if I was able to do so much, than it's worth giving Azusa-chan a chance!"

"Ouch, hostile," Ritsu gave me a look of disbelief. "She's your problem though."

"She's _not_ a problem," I growled, making sure that Azusa knew this too. But just what had gotten into Ritsu?

"T-Thank you," Azusa said with a _third_ bow. "I will do my best to not be a burden. I'm a bit of a bard, and know all sorts of stories and a bit of magic…but… Y-You're quite kind, Kotobuki-sama. It's no wonder that you got your namesake from such a legendary figure."

"There was a legendary person named Kotobuki?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. We began to walk, with Ritsu quickly making her way of head of us. Azusa walked at my side, and I felt bad for her as she limped just a bit. I would fix this! "Here, ride on my back, you look uncomfortable."

"Yes, Mugitsu bruised me pretty badly. Thank you for your kindness, Kotobuki-sama."

I giggled and kneeled down. "Oh, just call me Mugi, or Mugi-senpai."

Sword-chan hovered at my side so that Azusa could climb safely on my back. "Senpai? Does that really work in this case?"

"I think it does," I replied, walking along with her on my back now. Thankfully, she was light and I had gotten _much_ stronger in my time here. A darker, more brutal side of me boasted that I could probably now beat up anyone from Sakuragaoka. Even the teachers, but that was a horrible thought that I would never think because it was horrible.

"Um…what's with the floating sword?" Was her next question, which I had anticipated.

"That's Sword-chan, I'm borrowing her from a god named Freyr," I explained. I used the term 'borrow' in case an angry god showed up wondering why I had his shiny sword in tow.

"F-Freyr? That's _Freyr's_ sword?" Apparently she knew the name. "Legend says it only function for those who are very wise, and it can kill any giant!"

"I guess I'm wise then," I giggled again. "And you're right, Sword-chan is very good at killing giants. Along with undead too. What were you saying about my name, Kotobuki, though?"

"Not Kotobuki, _Tsumugi_. My parents were both traveling bards who knew nearly all the legends and stories in the world. They also both played the electric guitar, but that's not worth mentioning since nobody knows what those are." She told me, wrapping her arms just above my breasts so that she was more comfortable.

"I know what those are. Six strings, you plug them into an amplifier, and they go_ JYYAANNN!_" My guitar noises needed work, but I think she got the general idea.

"Wow, you really do know!" Azusa gasped. "I've never met anyone else who has ever heard of one, nonetheless know what they're like. Where are you from, Mugi-senpai?"

"Somewhere very far away," I answered, simply. A faraway place that nobody was in any hurry to help me get back to. "What about my name though? We keep getting side tracked."

"That's right! And it's even kind of ironic that you faced Mugitsu earlier too."

"Why's it ironic?" I asked her.

"Because the legend around Mugitsu says she had a twin sister named Tsumugi long ago," Azusa answered for me.

I stopped walking right there. Too stunned to move or say anything. With one sentence, Azusa just explained _everything_. There _was_ another Tsumugi, but Azusa had spoken in past tense so she was gone now. That was why Mugitsu thought I was related to her!

"What's wrong?" Azusa questioned my stop.

"H-How do you know that?" I kept still and asked.

"Like I said, my parents were bards. They told me about the _Legend Of The Valkyrie Twins_ all the time, it was one of my favorites. I would have never guessed that one of the characters from that story would be after me though. Kind of scary to think that a childhood story book would come to life…"

I began walking again. "Azusa-chan, tell me this story."

"The whole thing?"

"The whole thing," I said in a demanding tone.

"A-Alright then, here it is… I thought you would have known who you were named after though, and the story around her," She said to me.

"I don't because I'm not from here. Please Azusa-chan tell me the story, I need to know!" I was pretty much pleading at this point.

"Wait, where are you from that doesn't have this story?" She asked, further stalling.

"J-Just tell me the story first, I'll explain _everything_ after that!"

Night was beginning to fall as Azusa began…

**THE LEGEND OF THE VALKYRIE TWINS**

Between a thousand and two thousand years ago where dates were seldom kept, two twins were discovered abandoned on the step of a wealthy merchant's door in Aibureido. The man, and his Varyag wife were unable to have children of their own, so they gladly accepted these two gifts from the gods. They named these newborn, abandoned twins, Tsumugi and Mugitsu. While they were clearly sisters, there was one thing that set them apart from being entirely identical. Tsumugi had beautiful blonde hair, just like corn silk, which is where her named was derived from. Mugitsu had hair like the blackest night sky, and later people began to claim that it mirrored the dark essence of her heart and soul. But that would not be for many, many years and now Mugitsu was but a baby sharing a cradle with her sister.

Aibureido was a struggling nation at the time. Located in a place where the veil between worlds was thin. Hordes of demons entered and took over many of the nation's islands. The Sentinels did not yet exist to protect humanity, so the peasants had to form militias to fight against them. Many, many people died and paranoia was all around since demons could take the guise of humans. The villagers said that the merchant and his wife were raising two infants that were harboring demon blood within them. These were just paranoid suspicions of a troubled age, and nobody of any stature took them seriously.

The merchant and his wife paid them no mind and raised their two children as best they could. Tsumugi grew up as a maiden that was the envy of all other women her age. So beautiful and fair she was, that over a hundred men had requested her hand in marriage by the time she was but sixteen years old. She declined all their offers, saying that she had no interest in marriage. What she wanted to do was help the nation of Aibureido any way she could against the demons. It came to be that she was an expert fighter, taking to the sword better than any man her age in Aibureido ever had. This only brought the claims of demon blood to full fruition again. Tsumugi, though, said that if demon blood would help her defend the nation against those very beings, she welcomed it.

Mugitsu, on the other hand, was not a warrior. Her interests were scholarly and she grew up with books instead of friends. The twin quickly took to magic, learning many spells to help her parents around the house, and to defend her and Tsumugi from any trouble. She was a very lonely girl growing up, and everyone her age found her creepy and stayed away. The only person the black haired bookworm felt close to was Tsumugi. Growing up, she lived in Tsumugi's shadow. The blonde was the center of attention, and always got what she wanted before Mugitsu did. Tsumugi was very kind and compassionate though, and rarely acted bratty or spoiled. Still, her popularity and even standard of living was far beyond her sister's.

When Tsumugi claimed she wanted to go off to the contested islands to fight against demons, her parents didn't stop her. There were many tears shed for her, but nobody stopped her. She was a powerful warrior at eighteen years old now, and nobody doubted her skill in battle. What surprised them though, is how Mugitsu adamantly insisted on following her. She was no warrior, but wanted nothing more than to be at her sister's side wherever she went. Mugitsu could not fight, but she was very smart, and demons were very cunning and often could only be killed in certain ways. With Tsumugi's skill with a blade, and Mugitsu magic and knowledge, they would stand unstoppable.

And unstoppable is what they were. With every battle they won, the twins became stronger and stronger, until it was said that nothing could oppose them anymore. Mugitsu had become such an adept mage, that she could make her and Tsumugi effectively invincible while raining magical hellfire from the skies above. While Tsumugi was idolized for her bravery, beauty, compassion and skill, Mugitsu was branded a full demon.

The rumors came from a group of villagers who had their homes destroyed by the collateral damage of Mugitsu's powerful magic. This was one but many villages that had been damaged by a careless Mugitsu. Tsumugi tried to pacify them, offering them large sums of wealth to rebuild and live off of, and tried to tell them that without Mugitsu's powerful magic, they would have all been killed. Her words fell on deaf ears and the rumors of Mugitsu being a demon in the disguise of a human spread across all of Aibureido until the Emperor himself found no other choice than to have the twin executed to calm his people. Mugitsu's magic had inflicted such fear and awe across the people that nobody protested. The Emperor had complete faith that Tsumugi would fight on just fine without her sister.

Now thirty-five years old, Mugitsu was covertly murdered in her sleep while visiting her family by imperial assassins. Out of grief and feelings of betrayal from the people she had defended, the beloved Tsumugi took her own life out of spite for Aibureido.

Death was not their destiny though, and other forces had been watching them since they first marched into battle. The majestic _Choosers of the Slain_ rode down from winged horses and collected to two to fight again in Valhalla until the days of Ragnarok came. The twins were different though, gifted with powers far beyond any mortals. The gods saw this, and the being of all Mímir, saw them and claimed that the blood of gods long forgotten flowed through the veins of the two sisters. They were inducted into the ranks of the Valkyries, each as a _Chooser of the Slain_. Their duty was not to fight in battle, but to decide who would become _Einherjar_, the soldiers who would fight by Odin's side in Ragnarok.

Tsumugi was eagerly welcomed by her new sisters, and they quickly saw her as one of their own. High minded, golden haired, and white skinned she was almost impossible to pick out of the rest when they stood together. Mugitsu, though, was shunned much like she was as a child. Her black hair, and choice as having a wolf as her steed made her the subject of ridicule across the golden hall of Valhalla. She did her duties well though, finding the right warriors who fell in battle, and serving great feasts to the Einherjar.

But centuries came and went as the two sisters embraced their immortality. Tsumugi became aloof and arrogant with her high standing amongst the Valkyries and even a few of the gods themselves. Her beauty, and skill to match had a few of the gods and even other Valkyries wanting her hand in marriage. With an upturned nose, she refused them all, saying she would only wed the fairest of all; but did not say who this was. Mugitsu, now no longer even in Tsumugi's shadow began longing for that person to be her. She was falling in love with her sister, and would surely be the subject of even _more_ ridicule for it. With that in mind, she kept her feelings to herself and more centuries passed.

The duty of the Valkyries became more and more difficult as more and more wars were raged in Midgard. They could no longer gather hundreds of warriors like they could, and were forced to choose only the best. Mugitsu started to become absent from these battles, and would disappear for decades at a time to study all sorts of lore from various dimensions and worlds. With her magic now, she could walk between worlds with ease.

It was derelict of duty though. During her time gone, Mugitsu had picked up the art of swordplay to help get her sister's attention again. When she returned to Asgard and to Valhalla, Tsumugi was absolutely furious at her for leaving the way she did. Mugitsu pleaded her forgiveness and tried to explain to all that were there about how she had been studying the forces of the Vanir and those who would wage war against them. She claimed that the Einherjar were not numerous enough and would surely fall to the massive armies amassing against them.

None listened to the black haired twin, and she was ridiculed and mocked for her desperate attempt to justify desertion. Mugitsu pleaded for Tsumugi to understand, but her sister only struck her down with the slap of her hand and took the other side. Despite having no allies, and being openly disliked in Asgard, Mugitsu would take it upon herself to bolster the ranks of the Einherjar. The Einherjar were chosen from those who died in battle, so her solution was a simple one. Mugitsu would go to Midgard and wage wars, raise armies, and make sure as many people died in battle as possible. It was the only way to save the universe from dying under Surtur's flames. Or so she thought.

She thought this was an amazing idea, and those like Tsumugi would understand and follow her in this endeavor. Giddy, Mugitsu told her sister of this plan. Tsumugi did not react how Mugitsu anticipated. Instead of following her, the blonde warrior accused of her insanity and indeed having demon blood. Killing masses like that went against everything the gods of Asgard stood for, and Tsumugi claimed her sister had absolutely lost all respect in her eyes. She was so enraged with Mugitsu embarrassing her with her desertions, and now pitching this absolutely evil idea, she drew her sword and spear and went to finally silence her twin sister for good.

Loathing, spite, and aggression had built up over centuries in Mugitsu as her sister had continually shunned her. That love she once felt had morphed into absolute hatred, and the rest of Valhalla watched as the twins did battle. Laughing like the insane woman she was accused of being, Mugitsu drew her silver sword and flung herself into battle with the intent to slay her sister.

The magic that had once kept Tsumugi alive in countless battles against demons now worked against her. She was unable to even harm Mugitsu through her defensive spells. The battle raged on for hours as two immortals fought to end one another. The spells Mugitsu had learned over the last several centuries were more evil and vile than before. Nobody dared interfere with this fight, but all prayed for Tsumugi's success. To kill a Valkyrie was unthinkable, both of their fates were sealed whether they won or lost, but Tsumugi knew she would be forgiven under these circumstances for slaying another.

But slaying Mugitsu was something she couldn't do. After being weakened, burned, shocked, and blasted by her sister's magic, Tsumugi was unable to defend herself out of exhaustion as Mugitsu's silver sword pierced her heart. The only-child laughed as all her anger and spite was released. She laughed and spat on the corpse of her sister, calling out for the ravens to come and feast upon it.

What happened after that was obvious. She was exiled permanently after killing her sister, and the fact that she wasn't outright executed enraged many. Instead, she was barred from ever entering Asgard again, and sent to the bleakest wastes of Midgard. It was there she stayed, raising armies of the dead and manipulating men to endlessly fight for her. Mugitsu is now an enemy of Asgard, man, and even now the Sentinels. She will die the way she lived, secluded, vile, alone, and hated by all.

**THE END**

I didn't like the Tsumugi in that story, I didn't like her at all! Mugitsu wouldn't have become evil if Tsumugi had just stayed nice to her. I couldn't reason that, but I knew it was true, and all Mugitsu ever wanted was the love and appreciation of her dear sister. In a way, I was glad that Tsumugi and I were totally different people. She was aloof and arrogant, while I would never stop trying to be kind, helpful, and loving towards everyone around me. That dream I had after the fight with Poshkt… I had dreamed about Tsumugi and Mugitsu's final conflict! The setting was wrong, according to Azusa's story, but it was still the same! There were many things of that story that I didn't understand, mostly names and places, but at least I understood Mugitsu to some extent now. I wanted a chance to talk to her one on one without interruptions, and maybe use what I knew to stop her trying to kill, well, everyone.

The lights of Sakuragyfli were flickering in the distance, and I was about dead on my feet at this point. Ritsu had gone off ahead to the point where I didn't see her anymore, but I was sure she had gotten home safe.

We saw Sanya at one point too, or at least the faint glow of her brackets as she wandered the mountains alone at night. Poor little girl, I really wished someone could be there every night for her. At least I got what I came for, and now had a new friend in tow. She was asleep now, Azusa, nodding off before I could tell her my story. That was good, because I was simply too tired to do that now.

A familiar face greeted me as I entered the edge of Sakuragyfli with nothing but sleep on my mind. He came up to me on all fours, and just a fluffy as ever.

"Meow," Pickles the Cat greeted me.

"Oh, good evening," I yawned. "How have you been?"

"Meow," He answered.

"That's good, I've been better."

"Meow."

"This is Azusa-chan. You remember her, don't you?"

"Meow."

I giggled. "Yeah, you would remember her by taste, wouldn't you? Say, is anyone around?"

"Meow."

"Well yeah, besides her, silly."

"Meow."

"Oh alright then. Good night, Pickles the Cat. Nice talking to you."

"Meow."

That was right, I always forgot how he was nocturnal. I would try and convince him later to go out on patrol with Sanya so she'd have company. They could bring Foks along and it would be regular party. Except Sanya would be a third wheel.

I was fast walking towards the inn where my room awaited when a familiar voiced called out to me from the shadows.

"Höyryjyrä!" It was Eila, and that language sounded quite Finnish. The pronunciation for that word was so elaborate that I had trouble repeating in my head.

"Oh, good evening." I gave her a tired wave.

"Höyryjyrä," She repeated, stepping towards me. How weird.

"I don't understand…" I gave her a sleepy, confused look.

Her eyes narrowed and she slowly drew one of her sharp looking knives from inside her coat. In a scary, low voice she said, "In Varyag we use that as a call sign. Those who can't pronounce it are obvious spies and are executed before they can even fail to roll that first 'R'. You're not a spy, _are you_ Mugi?"

"N-No…" I told her, "Uh…uh… _Ho-ee-_"

"Wrong!" She pointed that knife at me, apparently believing I was now a spy for…something?

"Please don't kill me!" I pleaded. "You know my basic accent makes it so I am incapable of passing any shibboleths!"

_At least she didn't throw 'lollapalooza' my way. I really hate words completely unpronounceable to us Japanese. It's like they made them that way on purpose!_

Eila burst out laughing, putting her knife away. "Wow, calm down Mugi, I was just playing with you! Who's the new girl there?"

"This is Azusa-chan. I rescued her from Mugitsu, who was trying to hurt her." I explained, shifting Azusa's weight so that my arms ached a little less. She was light, but I had been carrying her for hours now.

"Oh, yeah, I saw Mio drag Hirasawa back," Eila commented. "Did you get what you left for?"

I nodded. "Got the potion right in my pocket here."

"Great!" She smiled and grabbed me by the wrist. "Instead of sleeping in that stupid, gross inn, why don't you take my bed tonight? It's way more comfortable and definitely big enough for you and Azusa there. Hirasawa and the others are asleep right now, so I think you should just crash right away."

"Thank you, Eila!" I tried my best to sound grateful. "Really, _thank you_. Today was very hard on me, and… I think I lost a friend, so I'm very grateful for your graciousness."

She chuckled, leading me by the hand up to the fort where her room was. "It was Tainaka, right? I saw her stomping in looking pretty mad, did something happen between you two?"

I would _not_ be walked on here. As we walked, and Azusa slept, I told her the truth, and everything that had happened. I told her, and my mind wondered…

_"Her name is Mio, and she is the fairest maiden in all of Midgard. For her black hair is like the feathers of the most beautiful raven, her skin like the purest snow, and her voice sang like the prettiest songbird. She is my best friend, and my heart aches for her...but she doesn't know my feelings."_

_"I'll definitely help you with Mio. True love only happens every now and then, so I'm not going to squander the chance to help it bloom!"_

_ 'NO!' _My mind screamed out in protest, finally unleashing itself. '_Stop giving into other's whims! Ritsu has been using you from the very start! You saved her life from those giants, promised to help her be with who she loved, and you did not complain when she sent you to Varyag (where you nearly died!) in her stead, or fought against Poshkt at her whim (where you nearly died again!). Then you destroy half the opposition at that valley fight alone, and save her from a dragon days later! She can have her glory, her fame, her fortune, but she CANNOT have Mio._

No. Ritsu didn't deserve Mio. Mio didn't deserve her either. Mio deserved someone who cared about her and acted out of compassion and selflessness.

I remembered something else I once thought. _"Romance and me were apparently not meant to be."_

Why did it have to be like that though? Why was I so afraid to have things for myself? Why was I wasting so much time in this world, one that everyone said would be destroyed by _Ragnarok_, trying to help people who clearly cared little for my well being. Nobody asked about where I came from, or if I wanted to go back. Ritsu treated me like a soldier to be deployed, then like any good general, she took all the credit for what I did. Of course she wanted me to stay here, I was doing the job she was supposed to do.

Mio though… I think she didn't want me to go home at all either. Not because she wanted to use me as a tool, but because she didn't want to let go of me.

I think it was time for me to show her that I cared. When I saw her, I would try and act, but for now I was…

**WITH EILA**

Eila's room was bathed in the purple glow of some burning blue candles. It was quite beautiful in here, and had that same exotic smell to it as before. Pickles the Cat was curled up on her dresser near those Tarot cards again.

"Bottom bunk is mine. Sanya may fall into it when she gets back, but don't mind her…" Eila told me, then put on angry face, "…and don't touch her either! Or even look at her!"

"U-Understood!" I gave an awkward salute, then went to lay Azusa down on her side of the bed. The poor little girl was out cold, and I hoped she wouldn't be upset with having to share a bed with me. I didn't think that would be the case, since she had let me carry her the whole time. During that, she had been so warm and soft… I liked Azusa-chan!

"Still, I can't believe that Tainaka would be enough of a bitch to do that to you," Eila grumbled as she stripped down to the underwear in which she slept in. "That's coming from _me_, the girl who punched you in the face and thought you were a spy from Mugitsu. Now here I am letting you sleep in my bed while I take Sanya's, and calling the girl who defended you back then a bitch now. Times, they are a-chagin'."

"I wouldn't call her that word," I said, shedding off my weathered bath robe, and slipping out of my boots. I placed them in a neat pile at the foot of the bed. "She really hurt my feelings with what she did. I'm not sure I can call her a friend anymore."

"Forget her, Mugi!" The Sentinel raised her voice. "You've been here, what, a month now? In that time you've accomplished more than she ever has, even though she's the self-proclaimed 'leader of the militia'. You, me, Sanya, Hirasawa, and even that Azusa girl there should get together and form a group with no Ritsu's allowed. We'll deal with Mugitsu, and make sure you get the respect you deserve!"

I smiled at her attempt to cheer me up, and sat on the edge of the bed. "Where are you going to sleep tonight then? This bed only holds two, you said."

"We can fit three." She took a seat next to me.

_Sleep between Eila and Azusa, one being in her underwear that I could pretty much see through. Yes, yes, yes!_

"I call middle!" I blurted out.

Eila sighed. "Of course you do."

Although I was about ready to fall asleep then and there, I had to ask her, "Say, Eila, what do you know about the legends surrounding Mugitsu? Azusa-chan knows the story quite well. What about you?"

She shrugged, "Mugitsu was a valkyrie who lost it then tried to kill her sister, who has your same name. Coincidence? Entirely, because you're nowhere near what I would expect from the resurrection of an immortal. Anyway, yeah, she killed her sister because her sister was the only one who would stand up and draw steel against her. I get what she was trying to do by killing as many people as she can in battle to bolster the Einherjar, but it's wrong. Let the people live their lives, and if Ragnarok comes it comes. All the gods have said that there is nothing they can do to change the outcome. Nobody knows when it will come, but Mugitsu claimed it was soon. Of course, that was centuries ago. So, to answer your question, I know all the basics around her. Mugitsu is a deranged bitch who has gone insane from being in those Wastes by herself for too long. Go figure."

"Thank you for answering, Eila," I smiled, and found a comfortable spot on the bed between her and Azusa to sleep. I was out almost as soon as my head touched the pillow.

My sleep was entirely restless though, and the things Mugitsu had said to me kept replaying in my head over and over again.

_ "It was good to meet you again though, Tsumugi, and part of me is glad to see you faring well."_

_ "Anything for my dear older sister."_

_ "…I'm offering you a place safely at my side. No killing, I cease what I'm doing here, and we rejoin Odin's court as sisters."_

_ "Ignorance is bliss dear sister, so I shall allow you to live in ecstasy."_

__The story told that Mugitsu loved Tsumugi in a pure romantic sense. Every time she saw me, she looked so excited, like she was meeting her date at the door. I began to think that Mugitsu saw me, and saw her sister. Saw the sister she loved and fought alongside as youth, and it made her _happy_. Could it be that I was the only thing that brought joy to a creature who had the blood of demons flowing through her veins?

I wasn't sure if that was a responsibility I wanted. Mugitsu terrified me to the core, but I would be lying if I said she didn't fascinate me.

**TOGETHER AGAIN**

"Mugi, I'm so glad you're safe!" Mio greeted me immediately with a hug that next day. The two of us embraced in the courtyard of her father's castle in the cool morning hour. I had only come out for a breath of fresh air, and had not expected to see her. Happy by her presence, I eagerly hugged her back, wanting to never let her go. She was wearing a smaller dress than normal, one that came down to only her knees and showed her shoulders. It was bright scarlet, and very pleasing on the eyes.

"You were right," I admitted. "It was terribly dangerous. I was a fool to go without you and Yui-chan."

"Forget that, I'm just glad you're safe in my arms again," The black haired mage sighed, still holding on to me. "Thankfully Ritsu was there, huh? She showed me the amount of treasure you two collected, and Father said that he would be able to hire an entire Infantry Breaker unit for Varyag to defend us!"

She sounded so happy to tell me this, like it was the first good news she had been able to relay in months. I knew about the Infantry Breakers from Eila telling me of her time in Varyag once or twice. They were apparently very powerful soldiers that were trained from a young age to do nothing more than kill opposing armies. The commanding officers of those units wore the same black and gold armor of Mugitsu too, which Eila had pointed out numerous times. Telling her that Ritsu was lying, and that we had escaped only by my awkwardly placed fireball, felt almost wrong.

"It is a good thing, but Ritsu may embellish the story a bit," I said through gritted teeth, feeling my anger surge just a bit at the memory of what she had done.

"Oh, I know she will!" Mio chuckled and let go of me. "I want to meet this new friend of yours, Azusa. I heard she was the one that we rescued from Mugitsu, and is a bard of sorts."

"That's right," I told her, walking back to Eila's room to wake her. The Sentinel was down at the inn eating breakfast with Sanya before Sanya went to bed. Mio followed me into the purple lit room. Azusa was just waking up as we walked in. I happily greeted her. "Good morning! I hope you're ready for a big breakfast, and a chance to meet all my friends."

She gave a cute yawn, and stretched. "I am Mugi. Thank you."

Mio step forward and introduced herself with a bow. "I'm Mio, daughter of Lord Akiyama and effectively the princess of Sakuragyfli."

"Azusa Nakano, it's an honor to meet your grace." Azusa's introduction came with a bow as well. "I heard stories of your beauty where I'm from, but those stories don't do you justice."

"W-Why thank you!" Mio bowed a second time, now blushing uncontrollably. I thought she was cute when she was flustered.

I smiled at them already getting along, but wanted to speed this up along. I wanted to see Yui-chan be Yui-chan again and not monotone, emotionless Hirasawa-san. "Mio, where did you say that Yui-chan was?"

"She should be down with her sister as we speak right now," Mio answered. "She was remarkably fast in her healing and recovery. You have what you went to Icenborgir to get?"

"I do." I patted the glass vial of potential-death in my pocket. I really hoped this wasn't going to kill her, or turn her into a _Slipknot _fan. "I want to get it to her as soon as possible. Can we go right now?"

"Of course. It's not like I'm holding you in this room or something," Mio chuckled, seemingly excited as well. Part of me also hoped that Riccha- I mean _Ritsu_ had decided to stop being a sociopathic little problem child and rejoin my side as a flighty-but-kick butt friend. She still didn't get Mio either way.

Pickles the Cat joined us, and the four of us made our way to the _Consens-_ I couldn't remember the name of that place. Mio and Azusa made fast friends it looked like, with Azusa going over how thankful she was towards Mio for helping her against Mugitsu. Mio responded entirely the way I had. We had to tell her that she didn't owe us anything, and certainly didn't have to pay any debts. I also wondered how Azusa and Yui would get along. In normal Japan, I thought they were pretty… uh… 'involved' it looked like. They had been that way ever since I got Pickles the Cat.

_"Yui-senpai, you nearly died trying to save me…" Azusa would say, holding Yui by the wrists._

_ "I would have gladly die for someone as cute as you," Yui would reply with a flirty smile._

_ "Oh, Yui-senpai, there must be one way I can reward your kindness…"_

_ "I can think of a way…" That flirty smile would be there still, and part of her yukata would slide down her shoulder. They would take each other in their arms, and-_

"Mugi," Mio broke me out of my fantasy.

"Oh, sorry, I was lost in thought," I quickly blinked unclean thoughts from my head. We were in front of that inn, and just standing there. Wait, whoops, they were waiting for me to go in and I was standing there fantasizing.

That was embarrassing…

Ui and Yui were waiting for us, with Ui happily calling us over to the bar where a nice breakfast had been prepared. Pickled herring on toasted bread, yum? If I didn't say no to eating potentially dangerous puffer fish, I wasn't going to say no to this. I saw Eila and Sanya there, sitting alone and pleasantly chatting in a language I didn't speak. No sign of Ritsu though. As soon as we sat down, Ui immediately asked, "Did you find that thing to make my sister better again?"

Yui was next to her, but seemed entirely disinterested, which was par for her course.

I nodded, retrieving the liquid from my pocket. "Here it is in all its glory! It's all yours Yui-chan!"

She eyed me cautiously, speaking in her monotone. "I'm not sure if this is what I really want though."

My eyes narrowed, and I made an angry face that was probably more cute than anything else. I pretty much shoved the vial into her hands, saying an overbearingly kind tone, "I'm sorry if this isn't something you really _want_ despite agreeing to it before I left. Reminds me of how I didn't really _want _to have to fight a dragon. Also kind of reminds me of how poor Mio there didn't _want_ me and Ritsu to go alone and risk our lives to get this."

I heard Mio whisper, "Is Mugi…angry? I can't tell."

_Angry? I'm practically a fountain of passive aggressiveness right now!_

Yui sighed and took the potion. She shook her head with a look of defeat. "This is for Ui, and let's pray I don't loose my discipline or prowess in battle."

"I don't think it really matters, you've lost twice against Mugitsu now," Mio remarked.

"Don't remind me…" Yui grumbled, popped the cap and drank it down without reading the label. I commended her braveness at that, because I had learned not to do that after a bad encounter with an unmarked bottle of vodka. Me, Ui, Mio, and Azusa all stared on in anticipation on how she would react. Yui slammed the glass down with a loud _PLINK _on the counter and looked straight at the ground. She wavered a bit, the looked up at Ui.

"U-Ui…" She whispered, reaching out to her from across the bar.

"Onee-chan?" Ui's eyes were full of pleading hope.

"Ui…" Yui took a deep breath. "It tastes like melon soda! Thanks for bringing me that, Mugi-chan, it was really tasty!"

"You're very welcome." I replied, then realized something…

"I…feel different…" Yui looked down at herself. "Light…fluffy… everything feel so much _better_. Wow, you made all this food for us, Ui? It all looks so good! Everything looks so good! Everything in the _world_ looks good right now! Especially nu-metal bands with nine members!"

Ui practically jumped over the counter to hug her sister. "Onee-chan, you're back! It's you, it's really you!"

"It's you too!" Yui hugged her back, mushing their faces together in a way that was so adorable it made stars appear in my eyes.

"I was never gone!" Ui replied in her that same ecstatically happy voice.

"I know you weren't, but I'm still happy you're you!" Yui hugged her tighter, too tight. She ended up pulling Ui over the bar and the two of them fell onto the ground in a pile. They were laughing, and I couldn't remember a time in recent memory where I had seen two people that happy.

All I could do was cross my arms and nod. _'Bringing overwhelming joy to people, all in a day's work for Tsumugi Kotobuki, Philanthropist Extraordinaire'_.

Yui-chan then focused her attention on Azusa. "I never learned your name. I'm Yui!"

"Azusa Nakano," Azusa bowed for the fifth or sixth time that morning (seventh?).

The newly ecstatic girl stood up, and eyed Azusa down. "Hmm… You remind me of one of those catgirls that run around here. What are they called again?"

"Nyan-nyans," Ui answered. Come to think of it, I _had_ seen servants up the hill that were dressed with fake cat ears and tails. I only saw them once or twice, because they were shy or something. I would be too if the dress code of my job required me to dress up like that.

"Azu-nyan!" Yui blurted out. "That's what I'll call you! Azu-nyan."

"A-Azu-nyan?" Azusa repeated the word, tripping over it. "W-Why would you call me that?"

"Because it's cute!"

That day was a good day, beyond restoring Yui-chan to her full glory. Mio was happy because Sakuragyfli could now afford to get help from the massive nation of Varyag. I wanted to find some kind of way to tell her that my feelings for her were developing past just friendship, but I couldn't muster up the courage to do it. If I hadn't let her down earlier, then maybe she would try to initiate something romantic like before. But no, I had to try and be faithful to friends who threw me under the bus. I needed to talk to Ritsu about all of this, I really, _really_ did. I didn't want to have a reason to hate her. Turned out she was on one of her world hopping deliveries to give some magical ring to a god in some place called _Muspelheim_. Muspelheim was one of those names that I had heard plenty of times, but had no idea what it was supposed to mean.

I had to wait a whole four days for her to come back because she was also visiting family far away as well. In the meantime I was able to reap the rewards of getting Yui-chan's smile back. She was able to give me some pointers on how to swing a katana around. Her lessons were kind of hard to follow, and a lot of the terms she used to describe things were made up. Luckily, Azusa was there to correct her and more properly explain things. I was able to learn how to properly hold a blade, and how to stand correctly so I couldn't get knocked over as easily.

**ENEMY INTELLIGENCE…**

Sitting on big rock on the trail up the castle/fort/large structure, I waited for hours for Ritsu to come back so I could talk to her about all of this. There was no telling when she would return, but I knew she would come up this way to see Mio one way or another. I would intercept her and demand to know why she was doing mean things to me. Yes, yes, it was a perfect plan… I was _scheming_ and it felt _wonderful_.

I saw Eila walking down the road, whistling a tune to herself that was more or less a whistled version of _Ensiferum's Lai Lai Hei_. Upon spotting her, I realized there was something I had been meaning to ask her, about Mugitsu.

"Eila-chan!" I waved her over.

"Don't call me _chan,_" She frowned. "Last person who did that got stabbed and thrown into a volcano."

I gave her a curious look.

"_An active one,_" She added.

"Oh no!" I gasped.

"Anyway…" Eila put on a friendly face. "What's up?"

"I was wondering something about Mugitsu," I told her.

"Okay, ask, I'll answer if I can. After fighting her for months, I have an idea of how she works."

I pitched my question. "If she's such an evil demon lady that even the gods don't like, why don't those gods just kill her and get rid of her? In the story, I was told that she killed lots of people and even her own sister, who was well loved. All they did was exile her? I'm just really interested in know about her, and nobody has told me much of anything up until now."

"Fair enough question," Eila sat on the rock next to me and explained. "I know the story a bit better than your Azusa friend probably does. Before I came here, Sanya, Hirasawa and I were all told the juicy bits most people don't know. When Mugitsu killed her sister in Asgard, _all_ the gods and Valkyries jumped on her and tried to kill her as well. To protect herself, she summoned up a gate and yanked in some monster from the world _Tartarus_ to fight against the Aesir. What she summoned was a _Hekatonkheires_, a monster with fifty heads and a hundred arms that can throw rocks as big as mountains… with each hand… As far as I know, nobody died, but it was enough to make the Aesir let dear old Mugitsu-chan walk away free."

"Then…how can anyone stop her if she has a monster like that at her disposal?" I asked, feeling this battle against her grow ever more hopeless. For some reason, there were also a dozen or so ravens perched up on rocks around us. The beady eyed birds seemed rather interested in our conversation.

"Simple," She began. "Sanya and I have a scroll with a magic spell on it that gets rid of that enchantment she has about her. The one that keeps her from aging. Pop her with that, and she turns to dust!"

"Why haven't you used it yet then?" I had to ask.

Eila's eyes shifted back and forth, and she instantly began making random, defensive hand gestures. "W-Well, you s-see, the thing is… A scroll like that takes two people to cast, and Sanya and I are never around the same that either of us see Mugitsu, so, it never works out! Stop being so nosy, Tsumugi, we're professionals here. We know what we're doing!"

I flinched back. "I was just asking…"

Azusa was walking up now too. "Mugi-senpai, I was looking for you!"

"Azusa-chan!" I smiled as she sat with us too.

"I wanted to talk to you about something…" She looked a bit nervous.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Your cat... he…" Her face was grim, and she lowered her voice to a whisper. "…Mugi, I think he wants to murder me!"

"Whhhaaaatttttt?" Was all I could say.

Eila nodded her head and growled. "I wouldn't be surprised if he was, Azusa. That little fucking helion keeps peeing on my sheets and scaring my poor little fox."

"I'm sorry, I'll try to keep my eye on him!" I told them, blushing from embarrassment at his antics.

"Not to mention, he keeps trying to go after this…" Azusa retrieved a small folded up paper from her pocket, and unfolded. Turned out it wasn't a paper, but a…portable hole? That was the only name I could think of for a thing like that. It was a space you could put things in and carry around. Like Ritsu's bag of stuff carrying, but different. "All I keep in here is that book Mugitsu wanted."

"Book? What book?" Eila asked, now very curious all of a sudden.

"_The Book of Vile Darkness,_" Azusa answered. "Not the d20 sourcebook with really nasty monsters and spells, but the honest-to-goodness one with all the evil incantations in it."

Eila had a look of utter disbelief on her face. "Waitwaitwait, you're telling me you have _THE Book of Vile Darkness_? Like the one that's also called things like _The Necronomicon_ in other languages, THAT ONE?"

Azusa nodded. "My parents tasked me with guarding it."

All the ravens took up and began flying east, towards The Wastes, all while cawing loudly. Silly birds, all that was in that direction was horrible monsters! The forest was west, where all the juicy worms were. I saw Pickles the Cat strolling up towards us, that was probably what they were running from. I didn't blame them.

The white haired Sentinel grumbled. "Azusa, why are you here then? If Mugitsu got that thing, she could like, kill _everyone_. Isn't that what she's trying to do right now? Kill everyone and bone Tsumugi here?"

"Excuse me?" I interjected.

"Well, it's _obvious_ she wants to sleep with you," Eila rolled her eyes. "Look, Azusa, if I were you, I'd hand that book over to someone, oh say, like me!"

"Could you really protect it?" Azusa looked unsure. "You're a Sentinel though, and Sentinels are supposed to be experts in this kind of stuff. Yui-senpai is a bit…odd, but I think you seem entirely level headed."

She handed that portable hole over to Eila, who put it in one of her belt pouches. "Well, I'm going to go hide this in a special place. See you two later."

With that, she stood up and walked up towards the fort. We watched her go, and Azusa asked me, "Am I doing the right thing giving that to her?"

I nodded. "Yes, I think so. Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen may sometimes be a bit blunt, rude, and frankly unpleasant to deal with, but she has a good heart. I just think that having to deal with Mugitsu and never getting to be around Sanya is making her stressed out. Poor girl, I think she needs a good vacation. Oh, right, there was that _Magician's Court_ thing happening that Mio wanted me to go to! How could I forget something like that? I know, I'll invite Eila and Sanya and it'll be a double date!"

"Uh…" Azusa just looked at me. "…You said that all out loud."

"But it's a good idea, probably the best I had since deciding I would pursue my feelings for Mio." I said… out loud again.

This time, a different voice replied. "Feelings for Mio. I knew I was right…"

That overbearingly hostile tone belonged to Ritsu, the girl who had been blocked out of my field of vision by Azusa head as she sat next to me. Azusa stood up. "Um. I'd think I'd better go."

"Yeah, I think you should," Ritsu pretty much growled. The twin-tailed girl made off to wherever, now free of the burden of an evil tome. "So that's it, huh? The whole thing by promising you'd help me with Mio was a lie so you could covertly sweep her off her feet. I get it now."

"That's not how it is and you know it!" I retaliated. I would not be walked on, unjustly accused of anything, or just take anything she threw at me laying down. Too many times in my life I'd let people walk all over me, but this wasn't going to be another.

Here I went… "This whole thing started because you were too afraid to act on your feelings. The whole idea of me trying to get Mio to fall in love with you by either lying or flirting with her myself was doomed from the start. I went with it because I felt like you knew what you were doing, but you didn't at all! You just wanted Mio to magically become your… your concubine somehow. That's not love, Ritsu! I may not know anything about this world, its gods, its places, its people, but love is the one thing that's universal enough for me to understand!"

"I do love her though," Her anger was seemingly gone, and it sounded like she was talking to herself more than me. "You don't get it, Mugi. I never really had a chance with her because anything I did she would pass off as me teasing her, or harassing her. I thought having someone else assure her that I was genuine would help, but I guess I was wrong."

"You were," I told her, slowly shaking my head. "I'm sorry that it ended up with this way, Ritsu. I never meant to steal her from you, I really didn't."

"Yeah, but you did."

"Not yet, at least," I sighed, trying to not to leave her feeling too bad. "It's really hard to be sympathetic towards you either when you nearly got me killed by a dragon, then take the credit for its death. How did you think I was going to react to that?"

"I was scared, alright!" She shouted, voice quaking. It looked like she was about to cry. "I'm sorry for that, Mugi. I don't know why I did that… I guess I was so afraid, and so sure that we were both going to die that I acted without thinking. Then as for stealing the glory, I just wanted something to boast. You have a whole list of accomplishments that have people shouting your name in praise, and I have nothing. Okay, sure, all the gods know my name, but it's not held in any esteem. I'm just some stupid girl who just happened to be born with lucky powers that let me hop between worlds."

I think I understood now… Ritsu was acting out of jealousy, not spite or malice. In hindsight, I really had taken everything from her. Mio, all the glory to be had, the attention and fame. All she could do was latch and act like she was my coach or manager. Did Eila feel the same way? No, she seemed completely apathetic towards those kinds of things, and blunt enough to tell me if she was pissed. I think the only thing I could do to upset her would be to kiss Sanya.

"Ritsu…" I stood up, walking towards her. "I'm sorry that I took those things away from you. I didn't mean to, I _really_ didn't. All of it came from hard work and nearly dying over and over on my part, and lack thereof on yours. Can we just still be friends? I love having you around, you make me happy and smile just by being you. I'll even forget that you essentially betrayed me in that cave."

"Meow," Pickles the Cat added.

Ri_chhan_ hugged me tight, nearly squeezing the breath out of me. There were tears rolling down her face now too. "Take care of Mio for me, Mugi. I know she's in love with you, and I was a fool to even think I could could compete. I'm not mad though, don't think that at all. I will be mad if you ever treat her wrong though!"

I couldn't help but laugh at her last comment as I hugged her back. "The fact that you tried to compete at least means you have compassion, right? You're better than you give yourself credit for, Ricchan."

Amends were made, a friendship was sealed, and there was no bitterness between us.

**THE NEXT MORNING!**

I had wanted to say yes to Mio's offer to go the Magician's Court quite badly, but she was off with her father for a few days in Varyag to help gain the nation's assistance. The date of the event was still sometime away if I wasn't mistaken, so I was patient. Instead of sleeping in that pile of reindeer fur blankets in the inn, I was now allowed to use Eila's bed whenever I wanted.

_"We can share it since it's pretty big, and it keeps your damn cat from peeing on stuff for some reason. Remember, if Sayna crashes in it, your pale little ass it OUT!_" Was what she had said.

Like any other morning, I was hungry and ready to treat myself to a breakfast by Ui. Without thinking, I reached into the pockets of my pajamas and felt those two necklaces I had plundered from Bitterhearth. I had forgotten all about them and how beautiful they were!

_I know! I'll give one to Mio when I accept her offer to go to the Magician's Court. It'll be wonderful!_

I met up with Yui-chan on the way down there, and she was now suffering from one of the potion's side effects. It was arguably the most mundane one, but I still wouldn't wish it upon anyone. She was now a major _Slipknot_ fan but didn't know who the band was, or that they even existed. It made her very confused.

"So Mugi-chan, I was thinking. Aren't bands who play in drop B tuning just the best?" She asked.

"I don't know, I never really thought about it." I answered, trying to end this conversation before it began. Because, in all honesty bands who played seven-strings in G# were the best, but I didn't have the heart to tell her that.

"Also, Mugi, have you ever heard of a place called Desmoinesiowa?" Yui-chan then asked.

"No, I haven't, why?"  
>"Because the name keeps popping up in my dreams now ever since I drank that melon soda. It keeps calling to me and telling me that me and and eight friends should form a heavy metal act." Yui-chan explain, apparently dead serious. "Mugi-chan, what's <em>metal <em>anyway?"

"Metal is a philisophical expression of aggresion, I think. Something you'll understand when you're older, Yui-chan," I told her, and walked into the inn. Conversations with her lately sometimes just got really weird.

I was playing with those two necklaces in my left hand, shifting them between my fingers and stuff without thinking. I barely made a few meters across the hardwood floor when someone noticed.

"Mugi, what are you holding in your hand there?" It was Eila, but I didn't think she was a jewelry thief.

Covertly, so no potential jewelry thieves would catch on, I sat down next to her at her table and showed her the two necklaces. "I got these from Bitterhearth and I thought they were beautiful. I'm going to give one to Mio."

"They _are _beautiful!" She swooned. "Oh, the blue one matches my coat and eyes. Can I wear it for just a bit?"

"I don't see any problem with that, as long as you make sure to give it back." I went to hand it to her.

"Don't worry, of course I'll give it back," She assured me and took it. Looking like a kid opening her Christmas presents, she put it on around her neck. "So, how does it look?"

"You look pretty, and less like you want to stab me," I answered with a smile.

She drew a knife from the inside of her coat and held it out at me. "What about now?"

"Now you look both pretty and ready to stab me!" I gasped.

"Yes!" She made a fist with her free hand. "Oh, why don't you try the red one on?"

That was a good question, why hadn't I been wearing it? I now had jewelry worthy of someone of my stature (at least in Japan) and all it was doing was collecting lint in my pockets. Around my neck that gold chain of ruby went!

Something flashed red for a moment and all of a sudden… I was in front of me? Sitting in front of me was Tsumugi Kotobuki wearing a red ruby necklace. These necklaces were apparently magical and cloned myself or something? Wait, no, that wasn't it. In my hand was a shiny, sharp survival knife like the one Eila had been brandishing. I looked down and saw I had her coat on, and could feel the weight of half a dozen more similar weapons beneath it. A breeze from the open window tussled my hair over my eyes. It was white.

_"Tsumugi…what the hell just happened?" The Tsumugi in front of me asked me, who was now Eila?_

"Tsumugi…what the hell just happened?" The Tsumugi in front of me asked me, who was now Eila?

My head was swimming, I could have swore that she said that twice, or that it happened twice. Weird. The necklaces were magically cursed though, it looked like. That was disappointing, it meant I couldn't give one to Mio as a present. I'm sure all we had to do was switch back to undo this.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_Mugi learns some stuff 'bout Mugitsu, found out that Ritsu still has a lot of good in her, and managed to get Yui's smile back while turning her into a Slipknot fan. Our heroine has been busy, and is now inside Eila's body, but all she has to do is switch back necklaces, right? Right?_


	13. Tsumugi Ilmatar Nakano The Cat

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 13**

**TSUMUGI ILMATAR NAKANO THE CAT**

_**Author's Note Thing:**__ (This chapter marks the story being bumped up to 'M rated'. Things in this chapter go over that line for a variety of reasons. You've been warned.)  
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_"I'm you! I don't want to be you!" Eila, who was now in my body, exclaimed._

"I'm you! I don't want to be you!" Eila, who was now in my body, exclaimed. That was kind of a mean thing to say. I wanted to be me… Had I just seen that twice?

"Let's switch amulets then, maybe it will undo this!" I quickly took off my own, and handed it to her. Her breasts were smaller than mine and that was throwing off my center of balance. Just another reason we couldn't stay as each other for very long.

_"Okay, let's try that." She took the necklace from my hand and switched it with my own._

"Okay, let's try that." She took the necklace from my hand and switched it with my own. I held the piece of jewelry with trembling hands, shaking from my confusion. I kept seeing things before they happened and it was weirding me out really bad. Blinking the feeling of unease from my mind, I slipped the sapphire pendant around my neck and waited to be me again.

Nothing happened.

_Eila grumbled and laid her head on the table. Sword-chan clattered onto the floor, apparently not functioning any longer with her in my body. She sighed. "One morning our heroine Juutilainen was eating breakfast when all of a sudden a cunning temptress named Tsumugi gave her a cursed amulet and ruined her day."_

Eila grumbled and laid her head on the table. Sword-chan clattered onto the floor, apparently not functioning any longer with her in my body. She sighed. "One morning our heroine Juutilainen was eating breakfast when all of a sudden a cunning temptress named Tsumugi gave her a cursed amulet and ruined her day."

"I'm not a temptress!" I retorted, since I wasn't one. Also, I kept seeing everything before it happened, but I wasn't going to continue saying so, because that just took up space. It kept happening, and there wasn't anything I could do about it, or so it seemed.

"You're right." She smiled. "Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen-sama _isn't_, but Tsumugi Useless-o'buki _is_."

I growled at her insults, and felt the strangest feeling at watching myself insult myself. This was going to be a long day, I could already tell. Trying to redeem myself, I frantically told her: "I'm sorry, Eila, I didn't mean to-"

She cut me off by shoving her hands over my mouth. "No!" She hissed. "Don't refer to me as that when I'm you. We can't let anyone know this happened! See, we're cursed by a magic item and people who are cursed are oftentimes executed in backwater places like this! Who knows how these yokels will react! Let's just play it safe and don't tell _anyone_. Not Akiyama, Tainaka, Hirasawa or anyone else whose last name ends in an _ah_ sound. Actually, first names are included, keep Sanya out of this too."

"Alright, I understand. I will sooner become a zombie than tell anyone!" I said when she removed her hand from my mouth.

"Here, take the stupid necklaces back, I don't want any part of them." Eila-Mugi shoved the red ruby one into my hands. I kept the sapphire one on, and placed the other in one of the belt pouches on her coat. Things only got worse when Yui strolled over to visit us.

"Morning Mugi-chan!" She greeted me, oblivious to who she was really talking to. I was still having trouble getting over seeing things twice.

"Piss off Hirasawa, we're in the middle of something right now!" Eila snapped at her…and Yui-chan was going to think that was me who said that. I gasped that, completely horrified that she would say such a thing while posing as me.

"D-Did I do something wrong?" Yui-chan flinched, taking a step back. I saw something just before it was happening…

_Eila went to cut me off._ _"Yes, making me nearly die from a dragon and-"_

"No, nothing at all!" I blurted out before Eila could say what she was going to say as me. Then I realized something, I had just foreseen the future and changed it. Being in this body had somehow granted me precognitive powers. I would use these powers for justice! Acting before Eila could, I told Yui-chan: "M-Mugi here is just a little cranky because Pickles the Cat clawed her. He does that a lot. Also, she's Mugi took, and totally not anyone else. Just like me, Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen!"

"Uh…alright?" Yui-chan gave us a confused look and began stepping back. "I'm going to leave you two alone because you're scaring me with your scowl Mugi…I'll, uh, talk to you later when you seem to hate me less."

She turned around and retreated in a full blown sprint. Eila was making scowling faces with _my_ face now! I never scowled!

"_Mugi_, could you please try and at least act like I do?" I asked her as nicely as I could.

Eila shrugged. "If I'm eternally damned to be you for the rest of my life, the least I could do is have some fun with it. Actually, no, I don't think Sanya would like me as you. We'd better find a way to undo this, and quick. Come on, let's go somewhere else where people can't listen in."

"Right." I nodded, and willed Sword-chan onto my back.

Juutilainen immediately reacted to that, pretty much climbing over me to get the sword into her own hands. She whispered sharply at me: "No, Freyr's Sword is your thing, people will get suspicious."

"Good point, you carry her." I pushed Sword-chan into Eila's hands.

"It's a…_her_?" Eila deadpanned, standing up. "Let's just go, the longer I stay as you, the less time there is before I just go postal and try killing everyone who isn't Sanya."

"What an awfully misanthropic thing to say." I said to myself as I followed her out the door. We went around the side to stables, where only one lonely horse stood. That horse was Ton-chan, but she (or he, I don't know) wasn't likely to know what we were talking about. As I stepped back there, I couldn't help but think about how by the end of my time in Sakuragyfli here, all of my innocence and purity would surely be gone. Whether it was from committing first degree murder, drinking alcohol, or finally giving in and having sex with someone (like, oh say, Mio), I was not going to ever return to Japan the same. Chances were I would wake up every morning and go down to my living room to watch that one Christian channel where they talked about God all the time. Since I didn't know what they were saying, I would probably just sit there in my underwear with a bowl of ice-cream in my lap and play _Slayer's Reign In Blood_ as loudly as I could from my home's fancy surround sound speakers. Yes, that would be my miserable existence after this. It wasn't _too_ miserable, actually, since the song _Raining Blood_ did have the coolest guitar riff of all time if I did say so myself. Yui-chan's guitar playing not withstanding there.

"So…" Mugi-Eila began. "…obviously we can't be each other for very long before problems arise. We need to act like each other too. I need to be more of a kiss ass and you need to be more kick ass."

"I'm not a kiss a-"

She interrupted me. "Yes you are, kiss ass. If Mio wasn't off playing around in Varyag, she could probably undo this with this some magic. I'll check the library for any tomes and magical books that could have enchantments or stuff to break this."

"What should I do in the mean time, come with you?" I asked.

"No, no, no, you'd get all restless and bored with me just studying." She replied, then shuttered a bit. "Gah, I can't get over being in your body. All my magic is gone now!"

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'll make sure not to use any and save it all for you when you get back, okay?" I tried to make her feel better.

"Chance are you're using it right now." She sighed. "I'll just go to the library, and you can hide in my room and play with tarot cards or something. It shouldn't be too hard to find a spell to remove a curse. Mio has plenty of those books laying around."

"Alright, sounds like a sound plan." I nodded. "If anything happens, I'll do my best to be Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen. I already know the basics: be all moody because of my role here in Sakuragyfli and Mugitsu, and threaten to stab anyone who looks at Sanya wrong. Or right."

Eila-Mugi nodded. "That'll do. Also remember that people who wear armor are second rate to you too."

"Got it!" I gave her a thumbs up, and began following her up to Castle Sakuragyfli. I think it was a castle, it could have been a fort, and people could correct me if was. I was going to call it a castle though. As we walked, I heard the song _Faeries Wear Boots_ by _Black Sabbath_ playing around us, and I had to wonder just where that music was coming from. Come to think of it, displaced metal music always seemed to play during times of conflict. Nobody else seemed to react to it though. This was the same thing like the cold though, nobody was going to say anything because they just assumed that I knew. So I asked Eila, "I keep hearing music play from nowhere, and it's music I recognize from my own world. Where is it coming from, Eila?"

"_Mugi_." She corrected me. "I'm _Mugi, _remember, _Eila_? To answer your question, they're from the metal sprites that float around. You can't see them though."

"Metal sprites?"

Eila-Mugi nodded. "Yeah, don't they exist in your world?"

"No." I shook my head. For trying so hard to use my name, she wasn't doing a good job covering up our identities with these conversations.

"Then where do you get your metal music?" She asked me.

"People make it. Usually big hairy people, who drink a lot of alcohol." I answered. "What are these metal sprites though?"

"People _make_ it?" Eila-Mugi eyed me in disbelief. "The absurdity of that notion aside, metal sprites are the remnants of the gods who died before the establishment of the new kingdoms: Aibureido, Varyag, Canticeal, Hoffenstien, and Lesfain. Legends say that long ago, these 'metal gods' would play songs that were so ferocious and powerful that they earned the worship of humans. They all died when a massive civil war broke out between all the Old Gods, but the lingering remnants of their songs still show up. They only play when something 'metal' is happening. Battle, drinking booze, punching out hookers, stuff like that. Speaking of which, if you see a girl with fishnets, mini skirt and tube top who looks a little raunchy; turn and run. She's still mad at me from hitting her in the face."

"That was an interesting explanation, but are you trying to tell me that while I'm in your body, I'm in danger from the wrath of a 'mistress of the night' that you punched out?" I asked, just a little worried now.

Much to my dismay, Eila-Mugi nodded. "She tried to take my coat…"

"What an awfully misanthropic thing to do in retaliation." I said to myself, then to her, "Is it only metal though? These sprites I mean?"

"Oh no, there are also rock sprites, string sprites, piano sprites, dubstep sprites. There used to be polka sprites, but a bunch of religious fanatics launched a holy crusade against them and now they're gone. We're in Sakuragyfli so it's mostly metal sprites that float around, which is either a curse or a blessing depending on how you look at it. Dubstep sprites ruined my sister's wedding."

"I didn't know you had a sister." I muttered. For some reason, I was unable to feel any sort of sympathy towards anyone with that 'Juutilainen' surname. Eila had ruined it for everyone. Come to think of it, I didn't really feel much sympathy towards _anyone _who had hit me in the face.

We passed the gates of Castle Sakuragyfli, and Eila-Mugi wasted no time getting straight that library to undo this. I was left alone in her room, which still had candles glowing. At first she told me to just mess around with tarot cards or something while she was gone, but took that back and told me to just lay on the floor until she got back. I asked how long she would be gone, and she replied with, _"Probably a few hours"_. This meant she expected me to just lay on the rug in her room for several hours while she got to read books and do exciting stuff. This was her passive aggressive way of getting revenge towards me after starting this, or at least that's what I thought. What was I supposed to do for hours as her though that wouldn't draw suspicion?

There I was, laying on the rug as Eila. I wished I had some one to talk to, even if I had to pretend to be Eila. Anything was better than just sitting around doing nothing. I was also thinking about what I had been told about those musical sprites that gave battles a soundtrack. Strange that it was only music from my world too. Where those 'old gods' musicians from my time and place?

Wait! That could mean that instead of me being sent to another world, I was actually sent forward in time! The island chain people mentioned plenty of times, Aibureido, could actually be something like post apocalyptic Japan. Maybe a horrible cataclysm had reshaped the world and gave it magical properties! Or maybe-

"Meow." Pickles the Cat said to me, sitting up on a chest of drawers. He effectively diverted my train of thought.

"I know what you mean." I sighed.

"Meow." He pointed out.

"Yeah, but there's not much fun stuff I can do in this body while in here. You really have sharp eyes if you figured out that I wasn't Eila." I commended him.

"Meow." He smirked. Pickles the Cat was a clever feline, I had to admit. "Meow."

While that was a rude accusation to make… he sort of had a point. I stood up, and stepped in front of the full mirror that stood in that room. Looking back at me in it was not Tsumugi Kotobuki, but Eila Juutilainen, and a weird thought crossed my mind. If I was going to be stuck as her for several hours, the least I could do would be to have a little fun, right? Right?

"Right." I nodded to my reflection, altering my voice to match her normal conversational pitch. Gracefully, I skipped over to the door and locked it, then returned to the mirror. Looking into that magical reflective device, I smiled and spoke in my best Eila impersonation. "Gee, Mugi-chan sure is great and wonderful and I don't hate her for making her switch bodies with me."

It worked! I sounded just like her, and looking into that reflection made it look like she was talking right at me. This would be a perfectly not creepy way to pass the time. She would be my very own puppet for a short while. Nobody was hurt by it, and this wasn't any more creepy than imagining friends in romantic situations together. In fact, this would just be like fantasizing…but different.

As Eila again. "Oh, it sure is warm in this room, I guess I'd better take my coat off~"

"Meow." Pickles the Cat rolled his eyes, and hopped down to go hide under the bed. Unable to stop myself, I unbuttoned that blue jacket and let it fall around the two white boots at my feet. A half dozen knives were strapped to the inside of it, which wasn't really surprising.

"Hee-hee, that's better." I giggled, now posing seductively in that loose tank top, admiring how it showed off Eila's midriff so well. Some rational, sane part of my brain screamed at me. It told me this was wrong, perverted, and was far and beyond just fantasy. It told me I needed to stop, put her coat back on, apologize to Pickles the Cat for acting weird, then wait like a good little girl. The problem was, that wasn't any _fun_. That rational part of my mind could just sit quietly and wait until I was done having my fun. Nobody would find out about this, and nobody would get hurt, so it was all good. Right?

"My feet sure hurt from stomping around in these boots and not being mad at Mugi-chan for anything." I said as her, and yanked those two white boots off. "These stockings are chafing as well, better take them off too~"

I was now down to my underwear, or _Eila's_ underwear now. Possessive wording was getting tricky now that I was in her body. My hands were shaking now, and I knew that doing this was wrong, but I just couldn't stop. Eila's face flushed red in the mirror from my own embarrassment towards myself for doing this. Keeping in character, I spoke aloud again. "It's been awhile since I last did a breast examination on myself. If only someone like Mugi-chan was here to help me… but I guess I'll have to do it alone~"

All inhibitions now gone, I pulled her top off and stood naked from the waist up. I now had a perfect view in that mirror of Eila's small, perky breasts with their rosy pink nipples. Looking at her like this made me feel light headed, and more than a little perverted. Without thinking, I reached up with my right hand and grabbed that corresponding breast. I cupped it tightly, pinching the small, pinkish nipple between two of my fingers. The sensation was enough to make me gasp and shutter. I was not one to touch and pleasure myself often, but I thought a situation like this pretty much warranted it.

Wishing almost that some part of me was strong enough to stop, I slid my left hand into her panties and-

"What are you doing?" Sanya's voice asked from behind me. She had been sleeping after her night shift and I was too pants-on-head retarded to even bother looking to see if she was there.

_Oh god why did I do this this was not a smart idea why did I not look to see if she was in the room sleeping why I am I so stupid what part of me made me think this was a good idea why why why?_

"Uhh…uhh…" I quickly turned around, which was stupid, and was still groping myself with my hand other hand between my legs. "This…isn't what it looks like?"

Sanya's eyes were wide, and her mouth slightly agape. "E-Eila….w-were you…_masturbating_?"

My hands quickly let go of whatever they were touching and shot my side. I gave a horribly awkward laugh and looked the other way. "Ha-ha! Of course not you…you silly goose you… what would give that…that idea?"

_If the real Eila learns about this, there's a good chance she'll murder me in my sleep. Or maybe she's doing the same thing right now in secret! No, wait, the only person she would do that as would be… Sanya! She's totally in love with her! I can use this to my advantage and get out of this situation without too much awkwardness. I hope…_

"You had your hands in your panties and were touching yourself." She answered, still wide eyed.

_Okay, just lie, Mugi! Remember that lesson at the end of The Price of Attention? I just have to lie my way out then have Azusa fix this. Yes, that is a sound (and not to mention responsible) plan._

Then I saw my salvation! A laundry hamper sitting in the corner of the room! I quickly bent down, pulled Eila's panties all the way off and gathered her clothes in an arm load. "Today's laundry day, remember? I was just touching myself because I had two embarrassing itches. It's not like I would do some kind of perverted thing like touch myself as… as myself…."

_Phwew, nice save!_

Sanya blinked. "Oh. My mistake then."

Then to my horror, she began taking her clothes off as well. I gasped. "Sanya-chan, what are you doing?"

"Chan?" She raised an eyebrow, and then I realized Eila didn't use honorifics. I was messing up left and right! "You said it was laundry day. Are you okay, Eila? You're acting weird."

"W-Weird, what makes you say that?" I forced a smile, throwing all her clothes into the hamper.

"For one, you just dumped all your knives in there after Mikeru has told you countless times not to." She pointed out.

"R-Right, silly me!" I stuttered, struggling awkwardly to retrieve them. Once I got the weapons and other necklace, I dumped them all on the dresser Pickles the Cat liked so much. I realized Sanya was just glaring at me now. Trying my best to keep sounding like Eila, I asked: "Is there something wrong?"

"You're just standing there. Aren't you going to get dressed in clean clothes?" She asked. I realized in horror that this room had three dressers in it, and any one of them could have Eila's clothes in them. She would know something was up if I went through them one by one, completely unable to tell which were Eila's and which were Sanya's.

Looking as casual as I could, I sat cross legged on the floor and shrugged. "Nah, I feel like being naked today."

_There. Crisis averted. I'll just wait for her to go back to sleep then redress and act like this didn't happen._

"Why?" Sanya asked.

"B-Because it's very liberating!" I replied. "Why are you asking so many questions Sanya-chan. I mean, uh, just Sanya?"

She gave me a worried look. "Eila, stop trying to hide it. Something's wrong, and you're acting funny because of it. What has you so worked up?"

I shrugged again. "Oh you know, the normal stuff. Mugitsu trying to do… 'stuff'. Uhh, Mugi-chan being annoying because I apparently don't like her even though she's just nice to me and nothing but. _Bohemian Rhapsody_ has been stuck in my head all day too, so that's another thing."

"I see…" Sanya exhaled, then patted the seat of the bed next to her. "Come here for a moment Eila."

_Okay, Mugi, this is the ultimate challenge. You're both naked, and Sanya is very beautiful. But remember, even if they're totally in love and probably do romantic stuff all the time, you're not Eila. You cannot touch her in anyway, mostly because she's like 13 years old and you're 18. That's not okay. Love may not have age limits, but the law does. Not to mention, if the real Eila gets word of this, she'll probably rip out your guts to strangle you with. Wait, why am I thinking in third person?_

I sat next to her, blushing furiously and wishing I wasn't. Her leg was right against mine, and I could see all the finer features of her naked body. Now my hands were shaking, and she would _know_ something was up.

"Eila, your face is all red." The look on her face showed concern.

"I-"

She interrupted me. "Shh, stay still for a moment."

I obliged, and she began moving her head closer to mine. Sanya raised her right hand too, and I knew exactly what she was about to do. She was going to cup Eila's cheek with her hand and kiss her on the lips! I had seen this very move done in manga before more than once. Now I was stuck in an ethical dilemma. Kiss her when I wasn't Eila? Or not kiss her and make her think that Eila was rejecting her. She was already probably really lonely having to go out at night by herself so much. The last thing she needed was for Eila to reject her in one of the few waking moments they had to go. I WOULD NOT STOP ROMANCE.

I was also a bit happy because I had successfully guessed that they were lovers a long time ago and now knew I had been correct. In my head, I was making a :3 face.

So I played the part of her beloved and met her lips with mine. Her hand didn't grasp my face, but that was alright. Warmth and exhilaration rushed through my body as our lips touched. My heart was beating a million kilometers a minute, and I felt blessed for being able to kiss such a pretty girl. I realized then that this was my first _true_ kiss. Not like the rape-kiss from Mugitsu, but first real romantic kiss. Except I wasn't technically me, so it didn't count. I'm sure I would get a real first kiss on my third try though.

Sanya broke it off quick, and reeled back, staring at me with bewildered eyes. She was trembling all over as she spoke, pointing at me. "E-Eila, w-what did you….why did you… why would you…"

Something told me now that she wasn't leaning in to kiss Eila…but to probably press her hand on her forehead to see if she had fever. A fever would explain why Eila would be acting weird and….I kind of took that the total wrong way and kissed her.

_Wow, I'm really not helping ANYTHING today, am I? The one moment I muster the courage to do something like this turns out to be the complete wrong time to do so. _

I desperately tried to correct this situation. With an awkward look on my face, I said: "I, uh, couldn't hold back the urge any longer?"

_Why did I say that? That was stupid! All I'm doing it making this worse._

Her eyes were even more bewildered. "You…_like_ me like that?"

"Y-Yes?" I squeaked.

So… I had just confessed Eila's love for Sanya for her. This was quite possibly the stupidest thing I had ever done. They _weren't_ lovers and my stupid yuri-goggles had betrayed me again! Before either of us could speak, or before I could make things even worse, Pickles the Cat hopped up on the dresser. Normally I wouldn't think twice about this, but cats liked playing with jewelry, and a rather problematic necklace was sitting up there. The other one was still around my neck. I doubted Pickles the Cat would end up triggering the other so that we switched bodies, but with the way my day had been going so far…

"Uh, hold on." I told her, and went to stop Pickles the Cat from doing anything drastic. "Hey there, Kitty, don't play with that!"

As I made my way over there, he lifted the necklace with a fluffy paw and stuck his head through the loop. A bizarre, troublesome day was made even worse with a quick flash of light. Instead of standing in front of dresser, looking down on a cat, I was now sitting with four legs looking up at a giant naked Eila with a sapphire necklace around her neck. I had switched bodies with Pickles the Cat as Eila. This was not a good thing. This was not a good thing at all.

Everything was warmer now, and was tinted a shade of green like I was looking through night vision. Nothing was happening twice though, so that was good. However, now being covered in fur made everything really warm and uncomfortable.

"Meow!" I meow'd at Pickles the Eila, now incapable of human speech. This was going to be a problem.

"At last…" Pickles the Eila raised her (his?) hands and gave out a rather evil laugh. "AT LAST I AM FREE FROM THIS WRETCHED FURRY PRISON! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! THE COMMON MAN SHALL BOW BEFORE MY MIGHT AND THE WORLD WILL FALL ON ITS KNEES TO A NEW RULER! THE STREETS WILL RUN RED WITH THE BLOOD OF THOSE WHO DO NOT SUBMIT TO MY POWER! AHAHAHAHA!"

_Besides either heightening or ruining Eila's relationship with Sanya just now, I have also unleashed an evil villain in her body. I REALLY am not helping anything today._

Sanya saw this, and promptly fainted. That was probably a good thing. Pickles the Eila looked down at me and laughed evilly again. "Well, well, well, the tables have turned, haven't they? I am now the master and you are now the pet, Mugi the Cat."

"Meow!" I gasped in horror.

"I shall have you know that my name isn't PICKLES!" Not-Pickles the Eila shouted at me. "I am Meowlothotep, harbinger of DOOM, SORROW, and other unpleasant emotions such as DISGRUNTLED and ANNOYED! You, my furry slave, shall come with me to witness the end of an era and watch me conquer all!"

"Meow!" I pleaded. "Meow!"

"You're right, even an evil villain needs clothes." Meowlothotep the Eila nodded, the scratched me behind the ear. "Aww who's a good wittle kitty? Who's a good wittle kitty?"

She made kissy faces at me, and… and… getting scratched there felt so _good_. All my worries about what happened so far today melted at the euphoria of being scratched. I felt a vibration in my new kitty chest that could have only been purring. This was demeaning, but at the same time wonderful. Meowlothotep broke off the petting and began gearing up with Eila's clothes from the hamper. Purring and submitting like that made me feel strangely dirty. No more dirty than kissing someone else's best friend while in their body, of course.

"I'm sure you want to know my plan, don't you, Mugi the Cat?" Meowlothotep the Eila asked me.

"Meow." I answered.

"SHUT UP YES YOU DO WANT TO KNOW!" She screamed at my answer.

_Why even ask if you're going to tell me anyway though?_

"See…" She began, walking back towards me. "My plan is to offer myself to Mugitsu's cause in this body. I could black mail Juutilainen to join as you as well to fool Mugitsu. When Mugitsu is drooling over Juutilainen in your body, I throw the necklace around Mugitsu's neck and take her place. From there, I use her vast amounts of power to kill you two and rule the world. I think it's a sound plan. Of course I'll need to find Foks a human body as well because she is the love of my life and I loves her. Okay, first I need the blade known as the _Lover of Ill_ or _Laevatienn_, or _Sword-chan_ as you call her. Later I can forge better weapons for me to conquer with. Like taping a chainsaw to both sizes of a kayak paddle. Yes… the carnage I could unleash with such a weapon would be glorious."

I didn't even dignify that last part with a response addressing it.

"Meow?" I repeated. How could Meowlothotep had known Sword-chan's true name. Not even I knew that and I was her best friend. WHAT ELSE WEREN'T PEOPLE TELLING ME?

"That's right." She nodded, and scooped me up under her arms. Meowlothotep The Eila was now fully dressed, and carried me out like I was some sort of prisoner. Being carried under her arm like that was frankly uncomfortable and I wished she would just stick me in her shirt just like how I did with her, I mean _him_. This was going to get confusing really fast, since I wasn't sure if Pickles the Cat could really be a _he_ at this point while in _her_ body. Shape shifting just made everything complicated. Meowlothotep carried me along with her (I couldn't look at Eila's body and use a masculine pronoun) across the castle courtyard to the library. It was quaint, cozy little place that I liked to visit and read some of the many legends and tales harbored within the hundreds of books. Despite all those books and stories of many foreign lands beyond the city-state of Sakuragyfli, I had never found a basic map of this continent. I had no idea of the size, borders, or basic layout of any where in this word beyond what I had seen first hand.

Eila the Tsumugi (boy is that awkward to read!) was sitting at a small table in a nice cushioned chair. Judging by the two lines in the carpet leading a ways to the wall behind, she had worked to drag it there. From under Meowlothotep's arms, I could see that she was looking through a university text book sized, leather-bound tome. Except, resting on its open pages was a magazine that she was perusing. This was like the students who would hide manga in their text books in class. From what I could see, she was looking through a catalogue of knives.

If someone was paranoid and fearful, they would believe that she had failed to find a way to undo this, and was now looking for a good knife to murder the person who had caused this switch up. That person being me, who thankfully was a cat in this now.

"Meow." I said, so we weren't sneaking up on her. Meowlothotep dropped me, and despite what many myths said, I just landed straight on my face. It hurt, but I quickly pushed myself into a sitting position and looked up.

Oblivious, Eila the Tsumugi turned around to greet us. "I thought I told you to wait in, uh, your room; _Eila_. I'm just taking a small break from studying here. Everyone needs-"

Too my horror, Meowlothotep cut her off by punching her straight in the mouth with enough force to knock her out of her seat. Meowlothotep gave and evil laugh, and I watched in more horror as Sword-chan floated gracefully into her waiting hand.

"Yes…YES!" The feline foe laughed. While Eila could not have used Sword-chan, Meowlothotep could. My problems just continued to stack and stack. If karmatic balance was true, then I was going to win the lottery or something after all this. Meowlothotep began marching back out, still laughing maniacally and drawing stares from the few other people in the library. Nodoka, the librarian here, quickly rushed to Eila the Tsumugi's aid. Meowlothotep stopped at the door, undid the sapphire pendant from her neck and tossed it at me. Before she left, she parted with a few last words. "Just because we've known each other for a long time, I'll grant you the liberty of finding a new body. Being a cat is frustrating. Let me tell you."

"Tsumugi, are you alright? Did she hit you hard?" Nodoka quickly asked her, helping her back up to her seat. Apparently she hadn't heard Meowlothotep's parting speech before she left. Neither of them had, and that was, once again, probably a good thing.

There was blood running down the side of the mouth of _my_ body. One radish shape eyebrow furiously twitched, and _my_ fingers curled up into fists. If anyone ever wanted to see what Tsumugi Kotobuki looked like angry, now was the time.

"Tsumugi?" Nodoka didn't quite notice that _Tsumugi_ here was quivering with rage.

Eila the Tsumugi stood up and pushed past Nodoka, growling. "Oh-ho-ho, that bitch is gonna die…" She cracked her knuckles and dragged her feet after Meowlothotep. This was going to be another problem.

Nodoka scratched her head in confusion and looked down at me. "You're lucky you're just a cat. You don't have the burden of trying to make sense of the things that go on around you."

"Meow…" I sighed, and quickly went to following after them. I was somehow entirely adept at moving around in this form, as Meowlothotep was with mine. Despite the grace of having motor skills as a cat, there really wasn't much I could do like this. Eila the Tsumugi would probably punt me like an American football if I got within kicking distance, and Meowlothotep could make Sword-chan turn me into Swiss-cheese. I gathered that other necklace in my mouth, awkwardly, and was thankful to have it. I was going to need this to trick someone into switching bodies with me. It was a cruel, heartless thing to do, but I was the only one who could stop Meowlothotep… or at least knew what was going on. In the end we could all get together and use the necklaces to switch back if we planned it right; since switching back seemed to be impossible between the first two people who switched. All this was making my head hurt, and hopefully there was a way to work this out.

My theory was this: I could not switch back into my body while Eila was in it, but maybe I could switch back if someone like, oh say, Azusa was in it. If that were true, this could be undone, but not without careful planning and coordination.

First things first though, I needed to find some poor soul to condemn to the furry prison that was this cat body. Frankly speaking, this was necessary in order to fix all this. I just needed to think of who would be a proper candidate to trick into putting on the other amulet…

Yui-chan? No, something about using her for this felt _wrong_. As with Ui, like they were both too ditzy and adorable to manipulate to my own twisted ends. I could not, in good consciousness do that.

Mio-chan? She wasn't available, and chances are I would need her magical ability to help with this.

Ricchan? Possibly. Able bodied, and sympathetic enough to understand why I'd throw her in a cat's body. Definitely worth considering.

Sanya? Oh, god no. Not after what I did earlier…

Azusa-chan? Yes! She was perfect for this, and not just because I want to be in her body because she was cute. There were plenty of practical reasons for using her, and not just because she was cute. I was sure she'd fit right into Pickles the Cat's body, and Yui-chan didn't call her 'Azu-nyan' for nothing. That, actually, didn't make a lick of sense, but I was going to try and switch bodies with her. Not just because she was cute either. All I had to do now was find her and coax her into slipping this other amulet on. That couldn't be too hard.

**TRICKING AZU-NYAN**

"No, Yui-senpai, I think I'll start with a wooden training sword first." Azusa-chan told Yui-chan in a scene I was about to describe. They were outside of town, just near the graveyard. Yui-chan had taken the black haired girl under her wing and was going to teach her how to properly defend herself in case Mugitsu decided to start getting pushy again. I was hoping to catch the girl alone, but I could deal with Yui-chan being drawn into this. In fact, maybe she could even help.

"Don't worry, Azu-nyan, we have Mio-chan here in case I accidently chop off one of your arms!" Yui-chan happily assured her.

Azusa-chan looked afraid. "That makes me want to use a real weapon even less! And don't call me Azu-nyan, it's embarrassing."

"But it's so fitting!" Yui-chan drew her katana from its sheath, and already a light drizzle of rain was beginning to fall. "I remember once when I was training, I accidently cut my instructor in half at the waist. She wasn't too mad and said that accidents happen. Eila-san and Sanya-san had a really scary instructor named Major Sakamoto. She would probably get mad if I cut her in half."

"Of course she would get mad!" Azusa-chan shouted at her. "I would get mad too! Stop acting so cheerful too. A normal person shouldn't be so happy when telling someone that they chopped someone in half once. By the way, what's your rank in the Sentinels anyway, Yui-senpai."

"Azu-nyan, I am happy to tell you that you are in the presence of _Lieutenant Commander Hirasawa Yui of the Aibureidon 43st Navy_!" She proudly answered, and then made a peace sign with her fingers while sticking her tongue out.

"That means…" Azusa-chan stared at her, wide-eyed.

"That's right!" Yui-chan proudly stuck her chest out. "I'm the commanding officer here. In fact, I was actually supposed to invoke the Sentinel Martial Status and submit Sakuragyfli to Sentinel jurisdiction with me in charge. Ui talked me out of it though, since she said submitting people to martial law wasn't very nice, along with recruiting every able bodied man, woman, and child into a militia. That's probably a good thing too. I'm a terrible leader!"

"Then how did you get that high of a rank?" Azusa-chan asked, looking skeptical. Meanwhile, I was trying to get over the fact that Yui-chan had the power to take over Sakuragyfli, if I heard that right. They hadn't noticed me yet, or were ignoring me since neither of them particularly liked Pickles the Cat.

That was understandable. I didn't think _anyone _liked Pickles the Cat.

"Oh, I sacrificed my emotions to beat a powerful demon overlord who was trying to attacking Mikomi, the capital of Aibureido." She replied, rather nonchalantly. "Next thing I know, I get showered with awards, medals, and promotions. I don't know if I really deserved all of it, I was just trying to protect Ui, since she was living there. That rank is only useful in the Aibureidon military though, because Sentinels don't have official ranks."

"That's…awfully noble actually." Azusa-chan remarked.

"Why thank you." Yui replied with a slight bow. "I guess all I needed was some good motivation to get me going. If Mugitsu threatened Ui, then I'd probably march all the way through the wastes to kick her butt."

Azusa nodded. "I understand. I'd probably do the same for someone too."

Oh, what was this? Azusa-chan had a special someone?

Yui-chan's eyes brightened at that too. "Really? They must be really special since you aren't a Sentinel and everything living out there could break you in half without any effort. Plus there's a lot of lightning too. Who is it though."

"N-Nobody…" Azusa-chan blushed, playing with her fingers and looking the other way.

"Tell me! Tell me!" Yui-chan began shaking her by the shoulders.

"F-Fine, but only if you promise not to tell _anyone_!" She finally gave in.

"Not even if I die and Mugitsu turns me into a Yui-zombie!" Yui-not-zombie assured her. I didn't find that statement at all funny as I sat watching them in the grass. It wasn't funny because that was something Mugitsu would probably do. I had contingency plans for a lot of things, and zombies were not one of them. The last thing I needed was _HTT _turning into The Dead Music Club.

Azusa took a deep breath, and then answered. "_Mugi_."

Yui-chan's eyes went wide. "Mugi? You like Mugi?"

The twin-tailed girl blushed furiously to the point where it looked like her nose was going to start gushing blood. "Y-Yes." She stuttered, her small fingers forming into fists that's gripped at the edge of her tunic. "S-She saved my life then carried me back and offered me shelter when her friend, Ritsu, wanted to leave me for dead. Not only that, but she's so fair and beautiful, and must be very wise to carry Freyr's own sword. Plus, in my short time here, I've learned about all her heroic deeds with your Sentinel friend, Juutilainen. I know it's embarrassing, being in love with a celebrity…"

_B-Being… In love… with… _

My mind was having trouble formulating thoughts. Not only did she consider me a celebrity, (which was the highest rank of honor in Japan short of being an anime or JRPG character) but she also said she was in love with me! Part of me was overwhelmed with joy from hearing that, but another part of me pointed out that I couldn't have both her _and_ Mio. I really liked Azusa in my world and here, but Mio had claimed a special place in my heart. I wasn't sure how to deal with this, and almost wish I hadn't heard her say anything. This was going to be a problem. The one time I _did_ have luck with romance, the timing couldn't be worse.

Well, enough dawdling…

"Meow." I got their attention, cutting Yui-chan off before she could properly react.

Azusa-chan gasped. "There's that awful cat that Mugi-senpai keeps around. What if he tells her what I heard?"

_No need for that, sweetie. Trust me._

"Aww, he's not awful~" Yui-chan stepped over and scratched me behind my newfound cat ears. I immediately began involuntarily purring by the overwhelming pleasure it brought. I was quickly getting distracted by this, and needed to focus. It just felt _sooo_ good though.

"M-Meow!" I told her, and moved over to Azusa. About as awkwardly as possible, I dropped the other amulet in front of her after carrying it all the way here with one paw. The claws had helped me drag it along immensely. I needed to get out of this body quickly, because I was starting to get urges to hunt birds and pee on people's sheets.

"H-Hello, Cat." Azusa looked down at me. "What's that you have there, jewelry?"

"Meow." I nodded.

She looked at me, stunned. "You…you just nodded! Or, at least I think you did."

"Maybe he's a magic cat?" Yui-chan suggested, closer to the truth than she realized.

"Meow." I nodded again, pushing the necklaces towards her across the grass.

Azusa looked down at it, still looking stunned. "Is this for me?"

"Meow." I nodded a third time.

"Is it a peace offering?" She asked.

"Meow." I nodded a fourth time.

"Wait, I've seen these. Don't they belong to Mugi?"

"Meow." I nodded a fifth time."

"And you're giving me this one, o magic cat?"

"Meow." I nodded a sixth time.

"Mugi's okay with this, right?"

"Meow." I nodded a seventh time.

"Okay…" Azusa reached down and picked up the necklace. "Oh, it's so pretty. Yui-senpai, look at this!"

"Oooh, it is pretty!" Yui-chan swooned. "Put it on, Azu-nyan, put it on!"

_Yes, Azu-nyan, put it on! Put it on, ahahahahaha!_

She did so, taking a moment to fasten it around her neck. The moment she did so, there was a brief flash of white before my eyes and I was now human again.

"Meow!" Azusa the Cat gasped in surprise.

"It looks great on you!" Yui-chan complimented.

I quickly tried to explain everything to her, without really thinking. "Yui-chan, these amulets are cursed and make it so whoever wears them switches bodies with the other person. You're not talking to Azusa-chan right now, but actually Mugi… and wow, this body is really light around the chest and I just said that out loud."

"Meow." Azusa the Cat stared in disbelief.

Yui-chan just blinked. "Azu-nyan, is this your passive aggressive way of trying to tell me something? Because if so, I'm not getting it."

"No, I'm not Azusa, I'm Mugi right now!" I desperately tried to tell her. My mind worked quick, and I thought of something only Mugi would know. "Uh, look, I'll prove it. During that fight with Poshkt, he summoned a twin of himself to fight us. We hardly ever mentioned that part of the fight, just the climactic part where you got stabbed. Remember? Eila punted me off a cliff. Azusa-chan wasn't there for that, she wouldn't be able to know. Eila and I were talking about using Sword-chan to shave, nobody else would know that!"

"You're… actually Mugi-chan!" Yui gasped, finally getting it. "How did you…" She looked at Azusa the Cat. "Does that mean Azu-nyan is a cat now?"

"I'm afraid so." I gave our new kitty friend a sympathetic look. She promptly clawed at my shin, not caring what happened to her body. "Ouch! That hurt, why would you do that?"

"Meow." She deadpanned.

"Oh right, I guess I kind of deserved it."

"Meow…" She sighed, then asked. "Meow?"

"I heard it all." I told her, biting my lower lip. I wasn't really sure how to approach her about that. It must have been hard enough for her to admit her feelings towards me to Yui-chan, and to learn that I heard everything. I couldn't say that I envied her.

Yui-chan, oblivious to the situation swept up Azusa the Cat in her arms and rubbed her against her face. "Aww, Azu-nyan is so _cuuute~_"

"Meow…" Azusa the Cat looked just about ready to die.

I gently took her away from Yui (who was just making this situation worse), and held her in my arms. "Sorry I had to do this to you Azusa-chan, but the real Pickles the Cat stole Eila's body and is now trying to defect to Mugitsu's side so she can steal her body via magic and rule the world. Eila's in my body, and out to kill her body because Pickles the Cat punched her in the face in my body. Also, Pickles the Cat is now Meowlothotep the Eila and has Sword-chan. So we need to find Meowlothotep the Eila before she finds Mugitsu. Also, we can't switch back, Azusa-chan, the amulets don't work that way, so you're stuck like this until we can find a way to undo this."

Yui-chan just kind of looked at me.

"Uh, did you get any of that?" I asked.

She nodded. "Okay, I think I understand… Someone named Meowlothotep turned you into a cat using those amulets and then you punched Eila in the face and then Eila became Mugi who became…. Mugitsu defected and… and… _I don't understand any of this!_"

I patted her on the head. "It's okay, just be thankful you're still Yui-chan for right now."

"Okay, Mugi-nyan." She smiled. I already liked that nickname. "What should do though? Find Eila and make her switch back with the cat body?"

I nodded for the eighth time in ten minutes. "Yes, and then I'll switch back with my own body, then Eila and Azusa can switch and that should undo everything. At least I hope it will. If not, we can just live the rest of our lives with each other… and the ramifications of that…"

Yui-chan bit her lower lip. "I don't know if the Eila could keep being a Sentinel in your body though, because she needs her magic to fight."

"Then we'd better find a way to undo this and fast!"

**QUELLING REBELLION**

Yui-chan told me about how Mugitsu took her horrible flying lizard monster for a 'walk' every night by riding it across the wastes and back. She and the other two Sentinels had tried to use that knowledge to stage ambushes, but Mugitsu always flew out of range, and Eila's mechano-bow couldn't pierce the scales of that monster. Shooting a moving, flying target wasn't easy either. Meowlothotep would surely be waiting at the valley that fed into The Wastes. The one I had fought Poshkt and all those giants at. It made sense for her to go there, mildly, since Yui-chan said The Wastes were extraordinarily dangerous to cross on foot. Lightning storms and monsters were only _some _of the worries and dangers. At the mouth of the valley, I could see The Wastes beyond. Swirling mists, distant lightening storms, jagged pillars of rock that almost looked like decrepit skyscrapers; it was all so very awful. Beyond that invisible line, the sky seemed to blacken immediately, making The Wastes seem even more intimidating. It was a good thing I wouldn't ever have to go there for any reason ever.

"…and then these orcs run in screaming _WAAAGGGGHHH_ and _Murasame _is missing-" Yui-chan's story was cut off when we both saw a figure standing in the distance of the valley. It was right at the mouth where The Wastelands began. It didn't take much to see that it was Meowlothotep the Eila standing there. She was standing on something that made her look a little taller. I couldn't quite tell what it was.

"Oh, sorry to cut you off, but there's Meowlothotep." I pointed at our target. "You're the commanding officer here, Yui-chan, what's the plan?"

"Hmm…" Yui scratched her chin for a moment, then answered. "We just beat her up and then switch all the necklaces back. Even from what you said, that she has all of Eila's magic, she couldn't possibly beat you and I together."

"Meow." Azusa the Cat said.

"Aww, don't worry, I'll make sure nothing happens to your adorable little body." I assured her, still carrying her in my arms.

"Meow." If cats could have blushed, she would have.

"Anyway," I began. "I'll try to get Sword-chan away from her, then you can knock her out with the flat of your blade, maybe. Can you do that?"

"I've knocked out plenty of people that way. Sometimes even on purpose!" My air head partner boasted, drawing her katana. A light drizzle began around us, bringing with it the scent of autumn leaves. I didn't really want to be wet, but the smell was nice and reminded me of home. I felt a small bit of nostalgia as we walked through here, remember that battle with all the dead and demons. Funny how far I had come since then, but at the same time how little I had progressed. How long ago was that? Just over a month? It felt like much longer.

"Put your sword away, you're getting us wet." I told Yui.

"Oh, right, sorry!"

We came closer, and I saw with just a little bit of shock what Meowlothotep the Eila was standing on. It was _me_, or the real Eila as _me_. She had tried to go through with her threat of 'that bitch is gonna die', but had apparently failed. That was good for someone, probably herself, since killing your own body while in another sounded outstandingly stupid. It looked like Meowlothotep had roughed Eila the Mugi up pretty bad, and I wasn't looking forward to switching back and dealing with those bruises.

"Ah, it looks like you brought friends, Mugi the Cat." Meowlothotep the Eila greeted us with crossed arms.

"Wrong, I'm now Mugi-nyan!" I corrected her. "And this is Azusa the Cat. We're here to stop your evil plans and get everyone back in their bodies. We don't want to fight, so please be complacent so nobody gets hurt, okay?"

My attempts at diplomacy failed and she just laughed in our faces. "Ha! You fools think I would go back to being Pickles the Cat? I laugh at your foolish notion. See, look me laugh. AH. HA. HA. HA. Do you see me laughing, Mugi-nyan? Do you see, do you see how I'm laughing at you?"

"Yes, I see." I replied through gritted teeth.

"What about you, Yui, do you see my laughter?"

Yui-chan nodded. "Yes, but I don't think you're being very nice by laughing at us."

"HA!" She laughed _again_. "Eila the Mugi thought she could subdue me as well, but she fell before my awesome might and newfound magic. Although, I did something foolish. I gave you those amulets, Mugi-nyan, instead of keeping them to go through with my plan to take Mugitsu's body for my own. I'll have them back now, thank you."

"Never!" I bravely cried. "I cannot let you take something just to use it to hurt other people. That's being a bad kitty!"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT I HATE IT WHEN YOU CALL ME THAT I AM NOT A BAD KITTY!" Meowlothotep screamed at us with enough vigor and force to make me and Yui-chan take a step back. She calmed down quickly, but was still breathing heavily. "No, Mugi, I won't be subject to your tyranny any longer."

"T-Tyranny?" I gasped. I had been accused of being many things. A misanthrope, a traitor, a sister, and even a bitch. But never a tyrant.

"Yes." She growled, making fists. "Think about it for some second you selfish little man-child. Remember how we met? You found me in Tokyo as a kitten. I was but a small thing, and I strayed from my siblings and found you looking for the Yui of our world. You saw me and I saw you. I was young and naïve, and thought you were like the human who gave my family food. No, you weren't, instead you took me away. I fought, clawed, and protested, but you never let up. Then I had to be dragged with you into this miserable fucking little place called Sakuragyfli only to ride around in your shirt and watch you bungle from place to place and nearly die over and over like a god damned retard. No, I'm sick of it! I'm not going to live the rest of my life that way. I'd sooner kill the three of you then go back to what I used to be. Let it be known that I fucking hate you, all your stupid little friends, your stupid little music club, and this stupid little place you brought me to."

"I…" Was all I could manage to say.

What was I supposed to say to that? I hadn't even known Pickles the Cat detested me so much. I remembered that Tokyo trip, and how he had seemed so willing to come with me. He purred and cuddled against me, and I had watched him grow into a fine young little cat. Sure he clawed, bit, scratched, and tore people up. Plenty of cats did that, and he showed equal amounts of affection as well. The worst part was his insults, and how utterly loathsome they had been to me and my friends. My breathing quickened, and I felt my eyes beginning to water. The urge to cry was becoming harder to contain.

"Meow!" Azusa the Cat cried out at her.

Meowlothotep smirked, ruining Eila's fine features with his evil. "Sticking up for her even after she tricked you. How pathetic."

Yui-chan stepped forward, making a fist. "Don't say bad things about my friends! Mugi-chan is a good person, so everything you just said is wrong!"

"Pickles the Cat…" I said, and took a step forward. I let Azusa go, and wiped my watery eyes with the back of my hand. "…I'm sorry if you feel that I've wronged you with what I did. However, you never _once_ expressed these kinds of feelings towards me before. How was I supposed to know if you didn't like me if you just now tell me this? I never kept you in my house by force, and you were free to leave whenever you wanted. Nobody forced you into any of this, and I'm just as much a victim of Sakuragyfli as you are. If you weren't so… so _damned_ passive aggressive, you wouldn't have these things to complain about. Instead of trying to fix what makes you unhappy, you just complain about it later!"

"Go Mugi-chan!" Yui kindly cheered me on.

Meowlothotep the Eila just stared at me, like she was trying to hate me to death. In a low, snarling voice, she growled. "Give me those amulets…"

"No." I denied her.

With one quick motion, she yanked Eila in my body's hair and brought her to my knees. Previously silent throughout this, she cried out in pain. Meowlothotep drew one of Eila's many knives and placed the blade against _my _body's throat. "Give it to me and Eila dies, and you lose your body for good."

I gritted my teeth in both fear in anger.

"Don't do it, Mugi-chan!" Yui shouted.

I turned to her and shouted. "Then what? Be stuck like this forever and have a friend die?"

"There has to be another way! We can't let her get away with this!" Yui-chan cried out. I felt awful for having to give in to a bully's demands, all while my friend's watched. This really _was_ like junior high all over again.

"You win, Meowlothotep." I growled through my teeth. Stepping forward, I pretty much shoved those two cursed necklaces into her evil little hands. As she smiled over her victory, I added in, "Just remember that even though you spilled more of my blood than anything else in any world combined, I still loved you."

I turned around.

"N-Now what?" Yui asked me.

"Meow." Azusa contributed.

I sighed, then smiled at them. "Time for plan A."

"You mean?" Yui's eyes lit up.

"Yes." I nodded. "_ATTACK!_"

I spun around as quickly as I could, just in time to see the surprised look on Meowlothotep's face; I mean _Eila's_ face. She insulted me, my friends, and threatened to kill both me an Eila at the same time. The timid, polite demeanor that defined me in Japan was gone now as I swung my fist at her face as hard as I could. My knuckles collided with what was Eila's nose, and I felt it crunch under them. She reeled back and nearly fell over, and blood was pouring out of the wound I had just caused with Azusa's small body.

I could hardly believe that I was capable of doing such a thing. Meowlothotep clutched her ruined nose as Eila and Yui pounced on her. Using my body, Eila kicked her between the legs and Yui-chan grabbed her by the arms. Within seconds, Meowlothotep was pinned on the ground by them. However, another threat still remained, because she could still control Sword-chan.

And she did just that. My trusty blade, which had been on her back, came flying straight at me. Using all my will power, I tried to stop Sword-chan from impaling me. The sensation was like trying to imagine Sword-chan just stopping, or being pushed back. It was hard, and I was instantly assaulted with a headache. Although Meowlothotep the Eila was beaten and pinned down, she was still trying to will Sword-chan into killing me. All I could do was fight back against it, and think about how stupid I was to actually believe that a floating sword had a some sort of sentience. No, Freyr's Sword just acted for whoever happed to be able to control it. Meowlothotep and I were both gifted by some divine circumstance to use mentally use it, and now here we were locked in a mental battle.

I couldn't see her face with Yui-chan in the way, and couldn't tell if she was strained. Me, I was gritting my teeth as this headache developed into a crippling migraine. Sword-chan remained floating in mid-air, pointed towards me, not moving at all. My muscles tensed up, and I struggled to keep standing as the mental pain intensified.

"Mugi-chan, should we switch the amulets back?" Yui-chan called to me.

Eila answered before I could. "Yes, _let's_."

"I…" I struggled to say something, but the sheer amount of concentration and mental power I needed to exert to prevent from getting impaled was too much. My nose began to sting, and I felt something warm and wet begin to drip from it. I began to taste blood, and assumed I had a nosebleed as well. There was no way I could take more of this, and my friends weren't doing more than just holding Meowlothotep down. Couldn't they just knock her out or something? Sword-chan was still in one spot, not moving at all, but at the same time pressing towards me.

"Wait!" Meowlothotep the Eila shouted. "I give up! Stop, I give up!"

Sword-chan fell to the snow below. Instantly that awful pain was gone, and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. They still held her down, and I stepped forward, trying to catch my breath.

"Are…are you telling the truth?" I asked while cautiously approaching.

"Yes, I am, just let me go. I'll put the amulets on, I just can't take that mental strain anymore!" Meowlothotep was pretty much pleading now. I could see her face, and tears were running down them. Yui-chan let her go, but Eila was still firmly latched to her body with mine. To me, it looked like our adversary had truly given up. She sat up, bleeding at the nose from either my punch or the mental strain.

"Mugi-chan, I'm so sorry I did all this." She sniffled, reaching her hand out to me. I took it with my own, or Azusa's own, or whatever, and held it. "I got caught up in the excitement of being human and thought I could be like the villian of one of those anime's you watched. I didn't mean those awful things, I was just stuck in the moment. I'm so sorry I hurt your feelings, I don't hate you. In fact, I feel the exact opposite. Switch those amulets with yourself, I want to hold you. The _real_ you before I go back to being a cat."

Eila the Mugi let her go, and nodded at me. "Do it. Being you is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Just, take your time or whatever so your damn cat is content and won't ever pull something like this again. _Ever_."

"Oh Eila, how you have fouled my lips with your vulgarities. Thou ireful tongue hath wounded my image." I let out my inner samurai with that sentence, and took one amulet from Meowlothotep. Eila took the other and we did the switch.

And after a long day of pain, romance, confusion, and being a cat, I was wholly Tsumugi Kotobuki in both mind and body. I felt weird though, like someone had adjusted my bra and wait… I was wearing a bra! Eila, in my body, had so kindly gone and found one for me! This was great, because…. I didn't even need to list off the reasons. Eila who was now Eila-nyan traded place with me, and looked down at Meowlothep still sitting there.

"Just give me one moment with you, even if I have to be in the body of another." She said and reached out with her hand again. I took it and kneeled down next to her.

"Being a cat is frustrating." I said with a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry you have to live as one now that you've tasted what it means to be human. It…I can't imagine what it must be like, so I won't chastise you and say I understand. Cats are meant to be cats though, and humans are humans. I'm sure some people want to be gods since gods are given quite the respect around here, but they can't change that, can they?"

Yui-chan, being Yui-chan, had to ruin my speech. "Um, actually, some Sentinels can become angels, and most gods used to be humans. B-But, you have a point!"

I glared back at her and gave her a you-and-I-are-going-to-have-a-talk-later look. Oblivious, she smiled back, and had Azusa the cat in her arms. Turning back to Meowlothotep, I gave her another sympathetic smile. "Maybe she's right though, maybe you won't be a cat forever. Who knows how long we'll be here, maybe some kind of magic can give you your very own human body. Only if you promise to be good though, and not punch people in the face, steal their swords, and then try to kill me."

Meowlothotep blushed. "I promise I don't do any of that. Oh, Mugi, you're so good to forgive me after what I did, and what I could have done. I can see why Mio really loves you. I'll say it right now, Mugi, I do love you. I love you a lot and I get so mad because of it. That's why I've hurt you so many times, because I'm…"

"Say no more." I could see the tears were beginning to flow more. "And don't worry, I love you too, Pickles the Cat. I think, though, that Eila the Azusa is getting impatient. I'm sorry, but I think you have to go back now. Switch Eila, then switch with Azusa, and all of this should be undone then."

"The sooner the better, really." Eila the Azusa agreed.

"Meow." Azusa the Cat added.

"R-Right." Meowlothotep the Eila then stood up. "I guess this is goodbye, Mugi."

I shook my head. "No it's not. We'll be together like we always are."

She didn't reply, she just grabbed me into a tight hug and pressed her lips against mine before I could react. It was just short, quick kiss to show that she really did care for me, and wasn't just bluffing all of this. I felt light headed and just a little giddy from it, and at the same time a little embarrassed because of it.

"Hey, hey, hey! Huggy kissy time is over now!" Eila the Azusa was clearly not happy about what her body was doing with mine. "Let's just switch around so I can go home and beat my head into a wall for a few hours so I forget this ever happened."

And here I was reeling over the fact that I had kissed _two_ people in the span of one day. One as myself, one as another, and one with someone who was in the body of someone else. So maybe my _fourth_ try would be the one true kiss. The one where me and my love kiss passionately under a starlit night after admitting our feelings. Oh who was I kidding, chances are I end up awkwardly making out with someone after a spin-the-bottle game goes awry.

I undid the magical necklace from around my neck, turned around, and handed it to Eila the Azusa. She eagerly placed it around her neck, then frowned.

"Nothing happened." She said. Her frown looked mean enough to kill, and looked out of place on Azusa's soft face. I turned back around to see Meowlothotep slowly walking backwards with the necklace just above her head, like she was ready to drop it and make the switch at any time.

"W-What are you doing?" I asked, now worried that I may have been duped here. The smile on her face was not a nice one, but a mischievous one.

"I had an idea." Meowlothotep said, now pacing around me and Eila the Azusa. "I don't want to take over the world or anything silly like that, and I know I couldn't. However, I am _not_ going to go back to being a cat. I'm staying in this body for good, and you and I are going to be best friends, Mugi."

"Uh." I uh'd. "No, that wasn't our agreement. I'm touched that you feel so strongly towards me, but it isn't fair to both Azusa and Eila."

"So get out of my body already!" Eila growled, then lunged at her with both hands. Meowlothotep easily side stepped her, and tripped her with an out stretched foot. Poor Eila landed straight in her face in the snow with an _oomph!_

"This little ability you have to foresee attacks is really something, Juutilainen." Meowlothotep taunted her, stifling wicked laughter.

With one large step I placed myself between the two of them so they couldn't fight anymore. Yui-chan, the only one with a weapon, just stood and watched. She didn't have to go slicing limbs off, but a good smack with the wooden sheath of her weapon would probably set Meowlothotep straight. I raised my fist in a hollow threat towards the body jacking cat and said, "Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? What happened to all those nice things you said just now?"

"I don't want to go back into a cat, Mugi!" She answered, going from nearly laughing to almost growling in anger. "Why do you even care what happens to Juutilainen anyway?"

"Because she's my friend!" I was surprised I even had to answer that.

"We've been friends longer though, so you should pick me over her!" She shouted back at me.

"That's not fair and you know it! Just place that thing around your neck already so we can finish this and go home!" I commanded with a shout matching the intensity of hers. The tension in the air was thick, and the other two didn't dare intervene. My frustration was building in ways it hadn't ever done before. I couldn't think of any instance in Japan where I had been so frustrated that I just wanted to scream and hit things like how I was now. This place was changing me, and not for the better.

"So you _don't_ love me then." Meowlothotep growled. Behind her, Sword-chan was slowly moving again towards us. I kept my eye on the weapon just in case anything happen.

"Stop it!" I shouted again at her. "Now you're twisting words around and trying to make me feel bad so I won't make you switch back. It's not going to work, and it's making me think that everything you just said was a lie."

"It was a lie." She confirmed with a wicked smile. "Almost worked too."

That hit me hard. I had fallen for her bluff, right in front of everyone too. She had just been playing off my good nature and general willingness to accept people. Now she had both amulets again and was out of our grasp. We caught her once though, so we could do it again. I wasn't going to fall for her tricks anymore though. This was only a minor setback. Sword-chan was still right behind her, nothing was happening though. I bit my lower lip and said in a disappointed voice to her, "Well, I'm glad you'll leave me with that final thought. I know your true colors now, and things will be different. Do the switch. Don't even try any thing with that sword either, it won't work."

"If I don't get this body, well, nobody does. Ha!" She gave one last insane laugh before leaping backwards into Sword-chan's waiting point. The expression I had was the epitome of shock and I couldn't even react vocally. Her hands let the amulet dropped around her neck as she impaled herself, and I realized in pure horror just what she was trying to do.

Meowlothotep, formally known as Pickles the Cat, decided that nobody got Eila's body if he didn't. Sword-chan went straight through her with almost no resistance, impaling her straight the through the chest as Eila was returned to her body. I quickly willed Sword-chan _out_ of her, and onto the ground. Warm, red blood splattered across my cloudy, gray tunic. I saw Azusa bolt towards the wastes, and realized it was Meowlothotep in her body now.

"Get her!" I screamed at Yui-chan then quickly dropped to Eila's side. She had a horrible bleeding chest wound and was breathing in short, quick, painful gasps. That shocked expression was no doubt on my face, and all I could do was stare at her laying on her back with a red puddle spreading beneath her.

I knew little first aid.

I didn't know how to tourniquet a wound.

She was bleeding all over the place.

I was effectively useless.

With a bloody hand, Eila shoved the ruby necklace that had been around her neck to me. I hadn't seen her take it off, but here she was giving it to me. Without a word I took it and just keep looking at her. I had no idea what to do, what to say, or if this was even all real. One moment there had been a cat in her body, and in the next she was laying in the snow bleeding everywhere.

"I'm...I'm so sorry..." I choked out. My eyes began to burn with tears. Her and was still out stretched, and there was a look of disbelief on her face.

"Meow." Azusa the Cat made herself known from beside me. Right, I thought, she still wants her body back, of course. I tossed the amulet at her direction, and she could do the rest.

"It's funny..." She said in a breathless voice, "I always considered people who needed armor to be second best to me... because of my magic. T-Then I g-get killed b-because a c-c-c-cat stole my body and j-jumped on a sword."

"Don't say killed!" I shouted at her, an grabbed her out stretched hand with both of mine. I held it tight, and couldn't hold back my tears. I was fully crying now. "You'll be alright, we just need to get Mio-chan, she can heal you like she did to me!"

From behind me I heard Yui-chan call out triumphantly. "I got her pinned down!"

Good, at least _something_ was going right for us. Even if it was too late.

Eila cracked a smile, like she was entirely unafraid or unaffected by this. "Don't worry, Mugi-chan... Sentinels are s-special. We take our f-fights to next level w-when we die...become angels...fight for Heaven and different Gods, ones worshiped far away... but as long as Mugitsu is here I still have a duty, so it means I still need to fight her here..."

"Does that mean...?" I felt a sense of relief at her words, like this wasn't a true good bye.

She gave a nod. "I'll be back soon... new body... getting hard to talk..." I felt her hand go limp in mine. "...Just tell Sanya that... tell her that... I didn't... didn't die like this. M-make something up... tell her... wait for me..."

Eila closed her eyes and her breathing slowed.

"E-Eila? J-Just hang on!" I let her hand go, then crawled a few steps through the snow so that I was kneeling at her head. "Eila, come on, you're stronger than this!"

No answer. I couldn't tell if she was breathing or not.

Gently, I grabbed under her arms, and pulled her close so that her head was resting on my knees. "Stop it, you're just trying to play a joke on me! You Sentinels are supposed to be the best of the best, right? Yui-chan took more than you did and she's still standing!"

"Mugi-senpai." I felt Azusa place her hand on my shoulder. She was in her body again now. "There wasn't anything you could have done."

"No!" I shouted and shut my eyes closed. "No, she can't be dead! This can't be happening!"

Next I heard Yui-chan's voice. It had the same tone it did when I first met her. Flat and nearly emotionless. "It's just... what happens when you're a Sentinel. She knew it when she became one, but it's not really the end for her yet. I said that some Sentinels become angels, remember? I'm sure Eila will be one of them."

I opened my eyes and looked down at her body resting its head against my knees. Her features were glazed with all the blood, and it was hard to believe that she could possibly be back after being like this. She looked at peace though, but at the same time entirely sorrowful. Oh God, what was I going to tell Sanya when we got back? Everything felt so surreal that it made me light headed to the point where I thought I was going to faint. I wish I had, because then I wouldn't have had to face this. It had happened too quick for me to handle. One moment she was there, and then she was gone. That whole day had been strange and if anything, a bit whacky, and then lead to death. I didn't know where Pickles the Cat was now, and chances were he ran off into The Wastes. I hoped the little bastard got what he deserved for this.

I fell forward against her and let myself cry. Maybe in this world, my tears could bring her back to life or something silly like that. Of course, they didn't. The worst part of this was, she had died by _my_ weapon. She died because of the amulets _I_ took. She died because of _my_ pet. There was no denying any of that.

Afterwords, I sat back up and looked at both Yui and Azusa who each gave me a saddened, sympathetic look. This probably wasn't anything new to them, people dying. In a world so violent like this one, that wasn't surprising. I could understand being desensitized to violence, battle, and sex; but death? I prayed I would never become used to something like that.

Out of the corner of my eye, up at the highest reaches of the valley to the left of me, I saw a lone figure standing there looking down at us. Behind it was a larger figure, like a kind of serpent. Mugitsu, who once had a sister who shared my name, watched us silently. She never came close though, and disappeared almost as soon as I looked the other way.

"Let's go, you two..." I said in a hollow voice, feeling more out of body then when I wasn't in my body.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_o this is my THIRD attempt to write this little Author's Note part because I do this on fanfiction last before uploading a chapter, and FF refuses to save this part for some reason. So, the two little monologues to you, the reader I wrote were deleted. Here's my THIRD attempt: Thank you for reading this story blah blah blah I hope this chapter didn't suck blah blah blah character development blah blah blah chapter with Mugitsu getting a bigger role blah blah blah._

_Please don't refer this story to people on 4chan. I appreciate the gesture, but they're guraunteed to hate it. In fact, that's just what they did.  
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	14. From A Life She Never Lived

MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN

CHAPTER 14

FROM A LIFE SHE NEVER LIVED

**((**_**Continuing the trend of really fucklong chapters! Now with 100% more fluff and yuri and other stuff you'll love!**_**))**

Two whole weeks had passed since Eila had gone away. We were moving into autumn now, although it was impossible to tell with the static weather and permanently gray sky. The temperatures were dropping though, I could feel that whenever I took off my ring of warming warmth. While the four basic seasons existed here like they did in my world, their calendar was different, and I had trouble understanding it. They didn't have months like we did, but instead there were 36 and a half weeks that were each ten days long, broken into four seasons. Other nations here had their own variation of that calendar, which were more similar to mine. From what I could tell, it was about mid-September now.

Snow had fallen heavy the day before, and Azusa and I sat in a snowdrift just outside of town, waiting for Yui to come back. Today was the first of the days we scheduled to learn self-defense from her. Sword-chan was my guardian angel for now, but the death of a friend showed that I couldn't count on her to always be there for me. I needed to learn how to properly defend myself without the help of a flying god-sword. For this, I had my gifted Masamune, while Azusa had a wooden practice sword. In this, I had complete and utmost faith in Yui-chan to decapitate me. Anything less could be fixed with Mio's magic. Mio had come back with her father and about 250 highly trained soldiers from Varyag. _Soldiers._ Not mercenaries like before. They were scary, _scary_ people, but I'll get into that later.

I sat there next to Azusa, and we were both silent. There hadn't been much conversation between us after she learned that I heard her romantic confession. Neither of us really knew what to say about it, and it was starting to get awkward. Next to me was a pack of things Yui-chan had brought with us, packed with Ui's help. Since Yui was taking her sweet time using the lavatory (she wouldn't go outside so she had to walk all the way back to the inn because her pee would flash freeze out here, plus going outdoors wasn't in the least bit ladylike.), out of boredom, I began going through her things to see what she brought. Snacks made by Ui, a box of first aid things, what looked like two bottom portions of karate gi's, two pairs of sandals that looked straight out of Japan's Edo period, and a folded up note buried underneath everything.

Ooh! Maybe it was a love letter to someone (hopefully not me, because I really didn't want to have a harem). Why didn't I want a harem? There was no way for me to please everyone if I was forced to choose one person. Thankfully, there was pretty much no chance of that happening. The note though! I unfolded it and went to see just what it was.

It certainly wasn't a love letter that was for sure. It was printed in black ink from what looked to be an early XXth century typewriter. It was very formal and official, like a military message being sent to someone. It was addressed to 'Hirasawa Yui', from some place called Magierre in some land called Lesfain signed by someone named Melody Depuis. Needless to say, I went and read through its contents.

SAKURAGYFLI STATUS REPORT #18

_**Commanding Sentinel: **__Y. Hirasawa_

_**Sentinel Operatives: **__S. Litvyak; A. Juutilainen (MIA); E. Juutilainen (KIA)_

_**Standing Orders: **__Objective remains static, remove the threat that is Mugitsu by any means possible. The mission has grown stagnant, and we are beginning to doubt your capabilities, Hirasawa. Two operatives have been lost under your command, and thus we have rejected your request for reinforcements. Furthermore your funds have been docked 30%, and this applies to your last remaining operative as well. If we do not see results had within the month, Hirasawa, you will be replaced in this task and considered expendable._

_**Additional Notes: **__Hirasawa, you get the pleasure of telling Mr. and Mrs. Juutilainen about what happened to their daughters, alright?_

**END REPORT**

Yui-chan had come back just as I was finishing up reading that. I looked up at her and asked, "Eila had a sister?"

"You read that little report?" She asked, sitting down next to me in the snow. She was sitting to my left and Azusa to my right.

"I did, and it looks like you really have your work cut out for you. With our help of course."

Azusa, to the other side of me shuttered. "Right… fighting Mugitsu, I'm sure I'll be loads of help."

Yui then answered my question. "Eila had a sister though, named Aurora. She was here with us about a month before you arrived. The two of them got in a fight over something, then Aurora stormed off into the Wastes because she was so mad. We never saw her again. I don't remember Aurora all that much, because she hardly ever said anything."

"Oh." I exhaled, looking down at the snow everywhere. My fingers played around with the hilt of the weapon I was going to be practicing with. It was lying at my side in the snow in its wooden sheath. Even now, I still thought the engraved kanji and floral designs on it were beautiful. The idea of me actually using this thing to hurt, or even _kill_ someone was so surreal that it made my head spin. In video games, anime, and movies, I saw people kill other people by the dozens like it was nothing. Now that I was put in this situation where I could very well have to defend myself by ending another life, it really put a new perspective on things. I told myself I couldn't continue being naïve here, so this was necessary, even if I would have preferred it any other way. All in all, I didn't want to be in this _Midgard_ anymore. I wanted to be home with my mother and father, in my nice warm bed back at my nice warm home. I missed them so much that it was leaving me shaking with anxiety at times. The violence and strife around me had been slowly grating on my nerves, but having Eila die in front of me was the straw the broke the camel's back. I wanted out of this. However, I didn't want to die either, so here I was ready to take my first lessons from Yui-sensei. What frustrated me even more was how I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do to get home.

Yui-sensei, along with all of my other friends, was more or less what really kept my spirits up. Even if they were from a different world, raised in a different culture, and different people from the friends I had in Japan; in a way they were completely alike. I was thankful for them, and I loved them all each in a special way. If I ever went home, I would truly never forget them.

After standing up, Yui-chan offered me her hand to help me get to my feet. I was still focused on the snow beneath me though. I remembered how not long ago, its coldness was the absolute biggest problem I felt I had. This ring had remedied that, and set my mind to focus on the bigger picture around me. I couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not.

"Okay, we're going to do this just like how I did back when I was trained to be a Sentinel." Yui-sensei began. She was now pacing back and forth. Her sheathed katana rested against her shoulder. "My old instructor, 'Ma, said to me, '_Yui-chan, you're not as strong, smart, or as fast as any of the recruits, and you don't have any magical talent. Don't let that get you down though, because I believe in you!_' That's the kind of mentality I want as a sensei too! The two of you are even worse off than I am, but that doesn't stop me from believing in both of you!"

"I can't tell if that's a compliment or not." Azusa-chan frowned.

"I leave myself in your care, Yui-sensei." I said with a bow, hoping this wouldn't somehow go horribly wrong.

"First thing's first, then." Yui-sensei pointed at her bag of things. "You're going to dress just like how I did. I ordered these clothes just for you two. I could have ordered something like healing potions, or magical wands that blew things up, but I felt like this was more important."

I was touched by how she prioritized us.

Azusa was quick to point out, "Yui-sensei, you only have the bottom half these gi's in here though."

"That's right." She nodded. "When I was a recruit, we only wore the bottom halves too. No magical rings either."

"I thought Sentinels trained in the islands of Aibureido, which are tropical. Of course you wouldn't have magical rings! You can't make us work without them, we'll freeze!" Azusa shouted at our sensei, and had a decent point.

Yui-sensei frowned at her, but because it was Yui-sensei it didn't really count as frown. "Azu-nyan, I'm disappointed in you! I'm taking time out of my schedule of taking naps, drinking tea, and eating snacks to help you and all you do is question me. If I were a harsher sensei, I'd make you cut off a finger out of dishonor."

Azusa heaved a heavy sigh. "Fine, but if I freeze to death, this is your fault."

"Oh come on, Azusa-chan, a little cold will make us stronger!" I cheerfully encouraged her with a pat on the back for emphasis. It felt great to be doing something with my friends, something productive. No, great wasn't the word, it felt _wonderful_ to be doing something other than just sitting around.

The two of us stripped down to our underwear then put on the white pants that served as our training uniforms. We then tied on those sandals (I had to get help from Yui-sensei because I couldn't tie rope sandals) and then gave her our magic warmth rings to her for safe keeping.

Standing there in the snow with open sandals, thin pants, and a bra that wasn't much more than a cloth wrapping, I remembered just how much I hated the cold. It had gotten _much_ colder in the two weeks I had that ring, or at least that was how it felt. The wind had picked up, and Azusa and I were left shivering, pressing our bodies against each other for warmth.

Yui-sensei paced around us in her stupid warm yukata with her stupid warm sandals with stupid warm socks and her stupid warm sword. She drew out her Murasame and said, "This, this here is what separates you from being alive and being horribly gutted by extra-dimensional horrors. That is, if you know how to use. I, Hirasawa Yui-sensei am here to teach you how to not die! Even if it's not demons or Mugitsu you're fighting, there are always bandits and thugs roaming about, and it's better to be safe than sorry. The first thing you need to know is…"

I stopped listening at that point because drawing her sword had made it rain. That left me soaking wet, and soaking wet Mugi paired with winds that were _literally_ freezing left me too cold to even register what she was saying. The water raining down on me was beginning to freeze on my arms and shoulders, and that _hurt_.

"Y-Y-Yui-s-s-s-s-sensei!" I interrupted with the raise of my hand. My other one was stuck to my body, literally stuck to my body because of the frost.

"What is Mugi-chan?" She answered, then actually looked at me. "Are you alright? You look blue, like, _really_ blue."

"R-R-Ring!" I shivered.

"Ring?" Yui-sensei raised an eyebrow.

Azusa helped out, "G-Give us back… the rings!" She was suffering just as much, and we couldn't huddle together because would freeze and be stuck to one another.

Yui-sensei scratched her head, observing our plight. "Hmm…" She hummed, "Maybe Azu-nyan was right, this isn't like that beautiful Tropical Island I trained on at all. Not enough palm trees. Okay, you can have the rings back, but you have to promise to work extra hard!"

"We promise!" Azusa and I shouted in unison.

With the return of the rings, the ice around us thawed off and dripped down in little rivulets I could barely feel. The amount of relief that came with them was almost impossible to describe. With that out of our way, we were able to begin our first lessons. We started off with learning the basic stances, and how to not get knocked off our feet. Yui-sensei explained everything in what I would call 'laymen's terms' and was very hands on with lessons. She kept her Murasame drawn the whole time, and the area around had all the snow turn to slush.

I was a little surprised to find that Yui-sensei was definitely a competent teacher when it came to swordplay. She was strict, but at the same time very relaxed, and very patient with us. She explained how if properly trained, we would have a massive edge over most common thugs, and even Mugitsu. According to her, although fast, Mugitsu's fighting moves were very basic and easy to evade and counter. After teaching us a proper stance, we worked on blocking basic attacks. To be honest, it was frightening to have Yui-sensei swing her sword at me, even if she promised she wouldn't hurt me in any way. Over several hours, Azusa-chan and I learned how to properly block basic swings, along with working on our stances. Every time we stood wrong, Yui-sensei was there to quickly sweep us off our feet and knock us into the snow with a swift kick.

Above all else, I was having fun with them. Even if it was a little frustrating having Yui-sensei kick me off my feet every time I so much as bent my knee too much forward; or having her slap the side of my cheek with the flat of her blade when my guard was down; I was still having more fun than I had in a while.

We had trained for hours and hours without even realizing. It was now dinner time, and the three of us were sweaty, tired, and hungry. I was a quicker learner than Azusa-chan, and Yui-sensei had to keep setting me aside to practice one thing or another while she slowly went over something I had already mastered with Azusa.

"You really could be the Tsumugi from that legend with how fast you learn." Azusa-chan commented as we walked back through the snow, still dressed in our practice outfits.

I blushed at her compliment. "You're just saying that. I don't think I could hold up very well in a real fight."

"You fought all those undead alone, didn't you?" Yui-sensei pointed out.

"I was suffering from low blood sugar, a gut wound, and was addled from the cold. I tend to do better at things when my mind is all messy." I was continually modest. Why? Because I could not imagine myself being truly skilled at something like sword fighting.

"Mugi-chan's just being modest." Yui-sensei giggled, and threw an arm around my shoulder. "As long as she has Sword-chan, she can beat anyone!"

I didn't like this mental image that she had of me.

"Even a god!" She then added.

I liked her mental image of me even less now. Luckily, I wouldn't ever have to fight a god for any reason though, even if I thought the same thing about dragons at one point and soon after ended up doing just that.

"Oh, Mugi-chan, can you go drop off the stuff from our lunch to Ui so she can wash the dishes?" Yui-sensei then asked me. "Azu-nyan and I will go ahead to the bath to wash off after all this training."

"Yeah, I can do that." I agreed, and took her bag of training things. "I'll bring it back with just our clothes, okay?"

"Okay-dokey!" Yui-sensei gave thumbs up then began dragging Azusa away with her. "Come on Azu-nyan, we get to be naked together!"

I gave Azusa-chan one last sympathetic look as she was dragged off. She had a perfect why-me face on.

**THROUGH OCCUPIED SAKURAGYFLI**

I hated walking through town now. The neighboring giant of a nation, Varyag, had heard Mio and her father's pleas and rented out 250 soldiers to them. They were an all-female group out of the 'Infantry Breakers' who fancied calling themselves The Teeth. Their leader, Colonel Neerinil Thorbjörnsson, (from what Mio told me) was the illegitimate daughter of a man named Mordrith Val'Vanacath. This was important because this guy was the god emperor of dark elves. Dark elves were about as mean as mean came, which made Neerinil a scary Viking lady who yelled a lot. Mio said that this was Varyag's subtle way of expressing discontent with Sakuragyfli because Varyag wanted to annex and tax this little city-state. The baron who ruled before the Akiyama's had declined their offer, and Varyag was still bitter about it. So, to express such feelings, Varyag loaned Sakuragyfli the rudest, rowdiest, most unpleasant group of soldiers they could. It seemed that even entire nations could be passive aggressive.

God, I hated passive aggressiveness…

They were called 'Infantry Breakers' because they were trained specifically to completely slaughter enemy infantry forces. They were like Greek Spartans, trained for years, and lived solely to kill or die in combat. It sounded like a sad existence to me. These women could essentially do whatever they wanted to Sakuragyfli because nobody here had any hope of standing against them. With Mugitsu throwing frost giants and endless waves of undead here, they were needed; like it or not.

With our training stuff in tow, I walked through the slush filled streets, and got a good idea of just how big 250 was when it came to people. These soldiers felt like they were _everywhere_. What was worse was that half of them looked like they could have been my twin, minus the eyebrows and all being taller than me. Blonde haired, blue eyed, busty; there didn't seem to be much genetic diversity among them. Their armor consisted of plate armor that covered their entire torsos, and metal gauntlets and boots, with added metal protection at their joints. Below that, they wore thick indigo died wool clothes. Each of them carried either a massive melee weapon, or a smaller (but still big) melee weapon and a massive shield.

Not a single one looked friendly in the slightest.

Trying not to make eye contact, I walked quickly to the inn where Ui was. I would feel more comfortable in there, and not surrounded by several dozen scary Viking ladies.

_Oh no…_

Across the inn whose name I had simply forgotten now, there was a general store that sold very general items. Leaning against the storefront was the leader of The Teeth, Neerinil Thorbjörnsson. She was easily identifiable for a number of reasons. First was that she wore the same armor as Mugitsu. Black, midriff exposed, thighs exposed, it was completely the same except for the fact it was polished and the gold trim stood out more. Second, her skin was a pale gray color, and her eyes were a faded red. Her hair was a snowy white, like Eila's, that poured down her back in icy waves. Her elven heritage was also obvious with her pointed ears that stuck out a good four inches from her head.

Not only was she there, but she was _looking_ at me. Maybe she thought I was weird for not wearing a shirt in this weather, since I was still in my training clothes. None of these Infantry Breaker girls seemed to have magic warmth rings, so she probably thought I was odd. Yeah, that was probably it. She had absolutely no reason to talk to me at all. I was pretty much at the door here too,

"You there!" Thorbjörnsson shouted in an angry tone that made my spine shiver.

Shaking, I slowly turned around, and hoped she was just pointing out that I dropped something.

"Y-Yes?" I squeaked, feeling very small.

"_FRONT AND CENTER SOLDIER!_" She barked at me, and pointed at the space of ground just in front of her. Other Teeth were now looking over at us, probably hoping she would do something bad to me. Not wanting to upset the angry Viking woman, I shuffled over there, barely moving my feet off the ground. I really hoped she just mistook me for one of her own since they looked so much like me.

"Y-Yes?" I squeaked again, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Soldier, where is your uniform?" She growled. I then saw that her canine teeth were more like fangs. At least she just called me over due to a misunderstanding. One that I would easily clear up then be on my way.

"Y-You're mistaken miss, you see, I'm-" I tried to say.

She looked the other way and cut me off by shouting to one of her subordinates. "Soldier, get over here real quick!"

The soldier she shouted at jogged over to us, and I felt a strangely menacing aura around her. She looked a bit like me, except I came up to her shoulders, she was beefier, and her eyebrows were thinner… so she was just like anyone else here. The only thing that stood her apart was how she seemed to be frowning just a bit more.

"Yes, ma'am?" The soldier asked with a quick salute.

"Soldier, remind me what the punishment for being out of uniform while on duty is." Thorbjörnsson ordered in her same scary tone.

I didn't like where this was going at all. Still shaking, I raised my hand and tried to say, "N-No, I'm not with you-"

"The punishment for being out of uniform is death, and then offender is eaten by her fellow warriors." Rank and File replied.

Thorbjörnsson actually looked surprised. "Really, we do that?"

Other Soldier nodded, "Mhm, or at least I think we do. If we don't then we should."

The Colonel stroked her chin, and then began eying me. "Yeah… that's not a bad idea. It would send a message to any other women here who think it's okay to prance around with no shirt. Soldier, what's your name?"

"Tsumu-" I tried to say.

"No, not you, _her_!" The half-elf pointed at the soldier who _suggested that eating me was a good idea_. They were probably just kidding, because there wasn't any way I was going to get eaten by other people.

"Sergeant Jenske Poulsson, ma'am." She gave another salute.

"You're only a sergeant?"

"Yes, ma'am, does that surprise you?"

"It does. Wars are won with intelligence, not just force. Here you are giving good ideas and you're only a sergeant. I'm giving you a promotion in the near future, because I like to see innovation among my soldiers! Wait, can we even eat people? Like, is that something that we could actually do?"

Jenske nodded. "Yes, ma'am, I've done it before."

_She what? Did I just hear that right?_

"Oh." Thorbjörnsson blinked. "Okay then, tell the others to get a fire going."

I stood there, both terrified and completely stupefied that this was actually happening to me. I stuttered, "Ma'am, I'm n-not part of-"

With a single, quick motion, the scary colonel drew her long sword and used her other hand to push me back. Being unprepared for her, I stumbled and fell on my back in the snow. _This was actually happening to me_. Jenske was off going to find some people to start a fire or whatever, and here I was on my back, looking up at the monster of a woman who was tormenting me. She pressed the tip of her sword against my chest, smiling evilly now.

"Sometimes I like gutting maggots like you. Helps boost morale I think." She smirked.

That was more or less the most sociopathic thing I had ever heard anyone ever say ever. I was still clinging onto the hope that this was all a big practical joke.

"I'm not a soldier though!" I finally was able to tell her.

She wasn't fazed in the slightest. "You're right. You're a coward with no regards for rules and regulations! Just like the Sentinels, who go around doing as the please, forcing us to come out here to this little shit stain of a city to save it."

I wasn't sure what that had to do with anything, but I needed to think of something. Fast.

Thorbjörnsson dragged her sword's edge across the front of my underwear, cutting the fabric. The whipping wind blew what was once my bra away, leaving me exposed entirely from the waist up. She shook her head and scowled. "Such pitiful breasts, and you call yourself a woman of Varyag…"

"I'm not-" I was immediately interrupted. I felt a bit angry at that comment since she didn't need to go bringing people's boobs into this.

"Silence, so I can make an example of you!"

Wait, what the hell was I doing? Sword-chan, who was _always_ with me, was lying next to me in the snow. I mentally willed her up to knock the sword out of my oppressor's hand. In an instant, my blade collided with hers, knocking it right out of her hand. Mouth agape, and completely shocked, she staggered back like she was unable to believe what had just happened.

"D-Demon!" She cried. All of a sudden I heard at least a dozen swords drawn from their sheaths from the Teeth around us.

"No, I'm not a demon, I'm Tsumugi!" I shouted, then climbed to me feet. Sword-chan hovered around me defensively, ready to disarm anyone else who thought threatening to eat me and tearing my clothes off was fun to do. I just stood there covering my bare chest with my arms. Like my name was magic, all those swords were sheathed again now.

Thorbjörnsson eyed me down, and slowly sheathed hers word as well. "Tsumugi Kotobuki, the one who we were told about. Lady Akiyama said you were the greatest warrior Sakuragyfli had. I expected you to be taller, with more muscle, and bigger breasts."

"S-Sorry to disappoint you." I was still shaking from this whole ordeal.

"Still, you wield that magic sword in a way no one else can, so I guess you are an asset." She turned around, facing the wall. "Just get out of my sight."

Her parting words had been vicious, like she had reason to hate me. Using one arm to cover my chest, I grabbed my things and quickly tried to finish my errand. That moment there was more or less the reason why I needed to learn self-defense. Without Sword-chan, I could have been killed just then for pretty much no reason. This world was full of stupid, dangerous, and violent people. Also, did she really have to insult my breasts too? They certainly weren't small, and if they were any bigger, they'd look silly with how short I was. In Japan I never felt short, but here I felt tiny next to these Infantry Breakers. Thorbjörnsson was just under six feet tall, but some of the other soldiers towered over me, standing close to seven feet tall.

I passed through the door to the dimly lit inn, trying to put that whole ordeal behind me. Hopefully that half-elf told Jenske that I wasn't supposed to be eaten so she wouldn't be coming after me later. Someone patted me on the back, and I nearly jumped out of my skin from surprise.

"That was close, wasn't it Kotobuki?" I turned around to see some Infantry Breaker standing there. She had followed me in, and didn't look like another carbon copy. Her blonde hair was curly, and she wasn't any taller than I was.

"Yes, it was." I answered, not really sure who I was talking to.

"I recognized you right away, but I didn't want to stand up against my sister." She said, reached into her pocket, and handed me a silver piece. "Here, buy me a drink."

"A-Alright…" I took it, giving her one quick look at my bare chest before covering it again. I still had no idea what was going on here. Why was I buying her a drink with her own money. Confused, I walked up to the counter where Ui was.

"Mugi-chan!" She happily greeted me. "Is this all of Onee-chan's stuff? Uhh… why are you topless?"

"L-Long story." I placed the stuff on the counter. "Just let me get my shirt out of here, and here's a silver for my friend here to have a drink…"

Ui took the silver as I donned my comfortable fitting gray tunic. She poured some kind of drink for the soldier next to me and asked, "I'm glad to see you made a friend out of at least one soldier here. What's her name?"

"Sigga." The soldier replied instantly. "We're not really friends, I just wanted to get to know Sakuragyfli's greatest warrior a bit." She then lowered her voice and whispered to me, "The coin was to make it look like you were buying me a drink. We never turn down free drinks, and I don't my comrades to think I was being friendly with you."

"W-Why not?" I asked, now sort of dressed again.

"None of them really like you. Then you have some like my sister, who just see you and get confused." Sigga answered, fully blunt. Despite calling that scary half-elf her sister, they didn't look anything alike at all.

"Who wouldn't like Mugi-chan?" Ui asked as she rummaged through the pack of things.

"These people, apparently." I shrugged, and wasn't too bothered by this. These Infantry Breakers looked like they just hated everyone. Being hated by them was like being tolerated and accepted in Ponyville.

I'm more curious than anything else." Sigga said, and took a sip of her drink. I think it was gin, judging by the smell. "They said you killed frost giants alone, and even a dragon as well. Lady Akiyama said if anyone was going to destroy that spirit, Mugitsu, it would be you."

"Spirit?" I repeated.

Sigga nodded. "Surely you must know about the spirit, Mugitsu. I mean, you have name of her sister in the myth."

"You mean, from The Legend of the Valkyrie Twins?" I asked, just to be sure.

She gave me an odd look, then replied, "I don't know anything about Valkyries in this story. Mugitsu couldn't be the spirit of a valkyrie though, she is said to have black hair, the same color of raven feathers."

"That's right. Her hair is very black, I've seen it myself. I was told in the story that she and her sister were Valkyries, and they got into a fight. Mugitsu won and was kicked out of Asgard for killing her sister."

Sigga looked even more confused. "Who told you that? Our version of the myth is very different. It is strange though, being sent to fight a figure out of a folk legend."

"How does your version go?" I had to ask.

She took another gulp of her gin and began. "Alright, _De To Sostrene…_"

**THE LEGEND OF THE ENVIOUS MUGITSU**

In a small village on the Varyag countryside, two twin sisters grew up safe from poverty, famine, and war. They were the daughters of a merchant man from faraway Aibureido, and his Varyag maiden wife. The older twin, Tsumugi, took the on the features of her beautiful mother, and grew into a gorgeous young woman. Her sister, Mugitsu, was cursed with raven black hair which is anything but fashionable in Varyag. Looking much like her father, Mugitsu was constantly mistaken as a foreigner and treated as such by the xenophobic locals. Because of this, the younger twin was forever in the shadow of her beautiful sister.

Not only was the older sister, Tsumugi, a beautiful maiden, she was also gifted with a singing voice that could melt the hearts of even the strongest men. That, and her natural talent with the piano, gained her many suitors. As she grew into adulthood, she became the most sought after woman across the entire countryside. Men flocked to her, showered her with gifts, and tried to take her hand in marriage.

Mugitsu, on the other hand, was also cursed with magical affinity. While nearly all mages were recruited into the military, she was too frail and weak to even be considered. Word got out that she was a mage, and she was further exiled from society. All she could do was lurk in the shadows, eternally jealous of her sister's success in everything she did. No matter what Mugitsu did, she just couldn't get any luck with romance like her sister. Men shunned her, and she was a prize nobody wanted.

It wasn't long until Tsumugi was to be wed with the noble son of the area's count at the time. Not only had she found the man of her dreams, but she was going to be wed into royalty. Her parents, out of greed, cut ties with their other daughter so that they wouldn't have to share their newfound wealth. Mugitsu was no longer part of their family, and was the only one in the village barred from the wedding. Distraught, and mad with envy, she cried out the gods to help her find some joy in her life.

The shape shifting god of tricks, Loki, heard her cries and came from Asgard to help her. He offered her the very same luck that Tsumugi had, and said that all who looked upon her would see her like they did her sister. There was only one catch though, Mugitsu had to murder Tsumugi.

Jealousy consumed her, and Mugitsu agreed without a second thought. That very night, she slit the throat of her sister mere days before her wedding. Like Loki had said, Tsumugi's fiancé instantly forgot about her and fell in love with Mugitsu. Nobody was troubled by the murder of the older sister, and Mugitsu was now living in what she felt was a dream.

Loki was not without his tricks though. From the bones of the dead twin, he crafted two cursed instruments to be played at the wedding and made them appear like any other. The wedding came, and when those instruments sounded in the festivities, a spell was cast upon Mugitsu. That very night, before she could lay with her beautiful new husband, she died while walking alone. Her body was found horribly burnt.

In death, her spirit was enraged at being tricked by the god, Loki. Her death was meant to serve as example to any who would let envy and jealousy drive them to murder. Mugitsu's spirit can't rest though, and even centuries later it still exists to haunt this world. Over the many years, her ghost has grown only more jealous of her dead sister, for being able to rest in peace. That jealousy has fueled her to corrupt men and force them to wage war just to cause more death. She wants everyone to die, and stands even against the Valkyries who would carry those departed souls to Valhalla. It isn't surprising that she made her home in The Wastes, since it seems to fit her in every aspect.

**THE END**

At least the Tsumugi in this story wasn't an arrogant jerk like the other, but a ditzy airhead oblivious to her sister's feelings. I didn't aspire to be like either one, but this version of Mugitsu's sister seemed like the lesser evil. Sigga's version of this story was so different that I was hard pressed to find any similarities beyond the basic, "two sisters" theme. I was more inclined to believe Azusa's version though. This made me wonder if there were other versions of this story too. Preferably ones that weren't tragic, and painted the Tsumugi character as being a better person. If this version was true, then it meant that Mugitsu was really an evil person who deserved whatever she got. The more I heard about her, the more I wanted to really just sit down and talk with her. She scared me, after seeing her display of power on the way to Icenborgir, but she _did_ save my life once.

I didn't know what to think anymore.

Sigga went her way after the story, since she didn't want to be caught being around me. She seemed friendly, at least compared to the other two soldiers I met before. I was still shaken up from what Neerinil and Jenske tried doing to me.

I said my goodbye to Ui, and thanked her for the lunch she made for three of us. Outside, the sun was beginning to set now, and occupying soldiers seemed to have thin out a bit. I hoped that I hadn't taken too long and left Azusa-chan and Yui-sensei waiting in the bath. Knowing Yui-sensei, I was probably doing a favor by taking so long. Now all that was left in that bag were mine and Azusa's clothes, which I was now bringing back to her. As I walked through the occupied road, I could feel the hateful glares of soldiers from a foreign land upon me. They hated me because I wasn't one of them, but looked like I was. I didn't understand it, and tried my best to not let it bother me. They were here for a reason, and were needed. In a way, it was my fault they were here too, since it had me who killed that dragon so Ricchan and I could return with all that wealth.

Speaking of which, she told the truth about who had really slain Shiverclaw. Just another thing that made people think I was some grand warrior. It was getting really hard to keep being modest when I kept accidentally accomplishing dazzling feats of strength.

I was close to the castle gates now, and I couldn't help but think of home.

Would my mother be proud of me if she knew what I was doing here? What about my father? How would they react if they knew that their daughter was off killing mythical creatures like dragons and giants? I actually didn't want to think about it, because it made me feel depressed. These kinds of thoughts lead to anxiety that got so bad I felt like I was going to have an absolute nervous breakdown. Those kinds of thoughts lead to the scariest thought of all.

What if I was missing in my world?

That was something I didn't even want to consider. To think all of this happened because I wanted to win some prizes for my friends in a competition.

**BACK TO THE BATH**

"Mugi-chan!" Yui-chan happily greeted me as I stepped into bath house. It was just her and Azusa, and they were positioned as far away from each other as possible. Azusa didn't look happy. Like, at all.

"Sorry I took so long, I got caught up with your sister." I apologized, and set their clothes down by the changing screen. "Then there was some trouble with some Infantry Breakers, but I don't want to talk about it."

"Yay, clothes!" Yui cheered, and leapt out of the water to dry and change back. I liked seeing her happy over nothing, it reminded me of the Yui-chan I knew in Japan quite a bit. Azusa slowly followed after her, taking great care to cover herself from us. I couldn't help but notice just how unhappy she looked.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked her as she climbed out of the water.

She muttered something under her breath, and looked the other way.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that." I told her.

She just muttered something I couldn't hear again. Meanwhile, Yui was behind that changing screen, putting her yukata back on.

Luckily, Yui-chan was there to fill me in. "She didn't like me trying to show her some cool wrestling moves I know. They're really handy if someone tries to grab you!"

"I'm mad because you kept accidentally touching me in places you shouldn't have!" Azusa shouted at her.

"I said I was sorry!" Yui poked her head out from the screen, and was blushing. "Are you still mad?"

"Yes I'm still mad! You even had the nerve to say that my small breasts put me at an advantage in battle!"

"But they do!"

I just stood there, eye-smiling at their exchange.

"That doesn't make it any better to say!"

"I said I was sorry though! You even held my head under the water, and I didn't get mad at that."

"You used that as a chance to tickle me, of course you didn't get mad."

"It's not my fault that Azu-nyan is ticklish!"

"Well, from now on you keep at least five meters away from me any time we bathe."

"Aww… oh, that reminds me, do you still want Mugi to do all those things I did to you?"

"Shut up, don't say that out loud when she's right there!"

"What's the matter? I think Mugi-chan would tickle you if you asked."

"Shut up shut up shut up!"

Yui-chan was right, I _would_ tickle her if she asked. I still just stood there smiling pleasantly as they continued arguing. They argued as Azusa got dressed again, and I just stood there watching. They were funny, and seemingly forgot that I was here. They kept arguing as they walked out together, leaving me to bathe alone. It wasn't arguing as much as it was Azusa getting mad at Yui, and Yui trying to defend herself and making things worse. I didn't want to be alone though, because I didn't want to be here with just my thoughts. Despite that, I stripped down and entered the water, sitting down against the far wall.

The warm water was just what I needed. It's comfort seemed to just dissolve me of my worries and anxieties. Looking at myself, I really hoped that I wouldn't return to Japan in the state that my body was in. I was leaner now, with my muscle tone more defined too. Besides just being more fit, I had a lot of scars that I wouldn't be able to explain too. Healing magic didn't stop scarring. My thigh had a faded mark from where I had been hit with that crossbow bolt. The area around my belly button was marked by numerous scars that should evidence of the various lacerations I had taken. The claw mark from the charnel hound was the most pronounced, leaving three faded horizontal lines across my entire tummy.

I heard the double doors open and glanced over to see who it was. My heart skipped a beat, and I felt a surge of excitement when I saw who it was. It was Mio. I had seen her maybe twice in the week and a half she had been back. She was busy helping her father manage all of this, or so I speculated. That or she was trying her best to avoid me for some reason. I didn't think it was that though, because she looked as happy to see me as I did to see her.

"Mugi, it's been so long!" She exclaimed as she quickly made her way over to where I was sitting. Something about her was different today. Red lipstick, eye shadow, a fancy black dress. Mio looked dressed to kill. Was it some kind of special occasion?

"Mio-chan, want to join me and catch up on things?" I offered.

She sat against the wall next to me, out of the water. "I already bathed this morning, but I'll definitely sit with you. I heard you began training under Hirasawa, how is that going?"

"We've only had one lesson, and that was today. She says I'm a fast learner though." I replied.

"That's good news." Mio seemed overly pleasant. "I hope you're getting along with the Infantry Breakers."

Getting along with Infantry Breakers? Nobody did that. Something was up.

I nodded, looking up at her with a pleasant smile. "Yes, I had a nice conversation with one."

"I'm glad to hear that." She said in her same forced tone.

I sighed, and cut the pleasantries. "Mio, what's wrong? You're acting weird."

"Besides the fact that my father and I just subjected our land to martial law?" She laughed once. "Or how he wants you to head these forces in battle, but doesn't have the courtesy to even meet you or give you his blessing. Father's so paranoid about Mugitsu killing him that he won't leave his chambers now. She hasn't even made any motion to do such a thing either. He's been trying to teach me how to run a nation all at once, which is why I haven't been able to see you. I'm sorry Mugi, I really do want to spend more time with you."

"It's okay, you don't need to be sorry." I assured her, trying not to get worked up about that 'heading military forces' comment. "Just please tell your father that I'm just a girl with a magic flying sword. I can't command an army. Leave that to Yui-chan and the others."

Mio rested her chin on her knees and stared forward. "That's what we've been doing for months, and it's gotten us nowhere. Hirasawa is an awful leader, and the perfect counter example to the Sentinel's legendary power. I offered to lead and direct the Infantry Breakers myself, but Father won't let me. Not only does he want me to be far away from battle, he's afraid of what will happen if people discover that I'm a mage, and a powerful one at that."

"Your magic has only been a good thing. I don't see what his problem is."

"You'd think differently if you were on the receiving end of my more dangerous spells." Mio said darkly.

"You're being too hard on yourself." I told her, trying to sound as comforting as I could. "It's not right of your father to force so much onto you and me. I'll do what I can though, for you. Don't ever hesitate to call on me. It's not like I'm doing anything otherwise."

She turned her head to meet my eyes with hers. "My invitation to the Magician's Court still stands, if you made up your mind. It's coming up soon."

I had completely forgotten about! My problems with Ricchan were dealt with, so nothing was stopping me now.

My face lit up with a smile I could barely contain. "Would you give me the honor of going with you?"

"Of course I would!" She blurted out, then composed herself, "I mean, why yes, Tsumugi I gladly accept you as my… _date_."

"It's settled then. We'll go together, and I'll do my best to make sure you have a wonderful night." I was still smiling so hard that my cheeks hurt.

Mio blushed. "I'd have a wonderful night just staying home here with you. I think this is something we both need, even if Father will be angry about me going with you."

"W-Why?" I asked, feeling a pang of worry.

"He still lives in the delusion of noble customs." Mio half said, half growled. "Even if you keep going out of your way to aid his nation in ways he couldn't ever do, he still sees you as this lowly peasant. It's wrong of him, because you're so much more than that. When we went to Varyag, I told him of how I wanted you to go with me to the Magician's Court, and how I wanted you to be at my side when I someday inherit Sakuragyfli. He was angry, angrier than I had seen him in years. He shouted, ranted, and scolded me for attempting to ruin the Akiyama name by giving myself to a person with absolutely not station; a woman no less. I don't care about that though. Noble birth hasn't ever really suited me."

I couldn't help but wonder if Mio's father would change his mind if he knew I was essentially a modern day noble in Japan. Still, this blind rejection of me based on circumstance hurt. I was risking my life for the well-being of this man's land, and he metaphorically spat on me because he didn't know how my parents were. Just what the fuck was wrong with the people in this world? I didn't want to make Mio feel bad about me, or get in trouble with her father. So, I gave her a sly smile and said, "No one says he has to know about us."

Mio just sighed, "It's always been my dream to marry some noble hero and have my father walk me down the aisle though."

Since I wasn't actually bathing at this point, I stood up and decided it was time for me to get out. Her and I could talk elsewhere. She gave my body one glance, then blushed and quickly looked the other way. It was cute of her.

"Cheer up, Mio-chan. We'll go to that thing together, and have a great time. No matter what your dad thinks." I told her as I made my way to the changing screen.

"Mugi."

"Hmm?" I looked back at her. She used her finger to draw some kanji in midair, then blew a kiss at me. Suddenly, all the water on my body literally just fell off. I was now completely dry without having to meticulously scrub myself with a towel. This was including my hair. If we could somehow patent that magical ability, we could have become billionaires in Japan. Then that snooty company that made blow dryers would bow before our might.

"Why thank you, Mio-chan." I giggled, standing happily naked before her. I wondered if she thought I looked good, despite my few ugly scars.

"Anything for you." She said, and cracked a smile. My relief at not having to dry myself faded into embarrassment at being naked. I quickly went to dressing myself into my clothes from earlier. Mio was watching me that whole time, the same smile on her face. I felt tempted to say something campy like, _"Enjoying the view?"_ but couldn't bring myself to do it. When I was finished, she asked, "Are you still staying in that room at the inn?"

"I am." I nodded. That reminded me, I needed to tell Ui to change the reindeer fur futon, because all the fur shed and it was making it so I was waking up several times a night from sneezing fit.

"Well, I had an idea…" She blushed, and began playing with her fingers.

"Oh? What is it?"

"My bed is more than big enough for two people, and it's very soft and comfortable… so if you want, we could…"

"I'll try not to hog the sheets." I finished for her, then completed dressing myself.

Mio laughed out of relief. "Okay then, I look forward to, uh, _sleeping with you_. That… came out kind of really awkward…" I chuckled at her nervousness, and how red her cheeks were. "…It's not just sleeping that I want to do with you. Gods, that didn't sound any better and now I'm rambling. What I'm trying to say is that I want to get to know you better. That was an innuendo too, wasn't it."

I gave her a sympathetic smile. "I think it was."

She sighed. "Look, Mugi, I'm not asking you to lay with me like that. It just occurred to me that I don't know anything about you beyond your kindness, gentleness, and what you've done for us. You told me that you weren't a warrior in your homeland, but you're so strong and you have the calmness of a battle hardened veteran."

Mio was mistaking calmness for my complete inability to properly react to a situation. Kind of like right now, I was just standing here smiling.

"I've been thinking about you a lot though, and about where you came from." She continued, "You speak our language, and have all the same customs of an Aibureidon noble lady. You're elegant and polite, yet at the same time deadly when you need to be. I've never seen such balance, and it makes me want to hear of your life before coming here. So, please, tonight, tell me your story."

I was surprised that she was so interested in me. Nobody here had shown the slightest bit of curiosity about my life before this. In a way, I felt like I needed a therapist too. Someone to talk to and tell everything to. Talking and having someone to hold as I slept… that notion was wonderful. I finally had a way to relieve the god awful stress that was crushing me. I was now fully dried and dressed, and felt giddy about her offer. Modesty still came first.

"I look forward to it, but please don't expect much." I told her with a proper bow. Now I was worried that I would disappoint her by telling her about where I came from. As much as I didn't want people hailing me as a hero, I wasn't really keen on them knowing that I used to be a sheltered rich kid who before going into high school, had the social skills of an asperger ridden otaku. Not only that, but I had never been in a fight before, never really been bullied (aside from some teasing from friends before), and spent my free time having tea parties alone. Thinking back on my life, The Light Music Club was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. Before meeting my beloved friends, I was probably the most dull person in the history of dull people.

"I just want to know more about the one I'm falling for." Mio said with more confidence than I would have expected from her. I felt like it was then that I should have made some kind of move, or said something so she knew I felt the same way.

I couldn't though. I just couldn't bring myself to form a sentence. I knew she wanted me, but I was too afraid to say anything. I was brave enough to enter the lair of a dragon, but too scared to say how I really felt about someone. Instead of following my heart, I just smiled at her… just kept smiling as she took me by the hand and lead me out.

**FOR THE GREATER GOOD**

Mio and I went to have dinner with our friends, and try to ignore the scary Infantry Breakers that patrolled the streets in the dark. The sun was down, and the moon was up. Perpetual clouds had parted to reveal stars sporadically sprawled across the sky. It looked like there were less than before. We walked hand in hand, and the moonlight mixed with lantern light to bathe Mio in an absolutely beautiful glow. I hated myself for not being able to just say what I wanted to say.

_"Mio, I'm in love with you."_

I could think it just fine.

Under this nightly glow, she looked so gorgeous that it made my heart ache. Everything about her seemed perfect at that moment. Her silky raven black hair, dark eyes, light and smooth skin, the way her dress showed just enough cleavage. I felt strangely honored to hold her hand in mine. It felt so small and delicate, and I wanted nothing more to bring it to my lips. While I didn't want to go into another self-pity trip, I almost understood her father's point of view on us. She looked as beautiful and elegant as a noble lady should have, while I was really beginning to take on the look of a warrior. My hair was messier than it had ever been, and completely rampant with split ends. The clothes Ricchan had provided me with weren't much better than a peasant's garb, and seemed to get dirty no matter how hard I strove to keep them clean. In a way, I was living in a 'princess and pauper' and I kind of liked it.

Ahead, in the dark, I saw a crowd of people gathered around just beyond Ui's Place (which was I was now calling this inn, because it needed a name beyond that silly one I refused to use). Many of them had torches, and the vague indigo color of their garb showed me that they were those awful soldiers. We both slowed our pace down.

"What's going on?" I asked Mio.

"I don't know, I hope it's not…" She stopped talking as we saw two Infantry Breakers drag their bloodied comrade out of the crowd. "…anything bad."

She gripped my hand tighter, and the urge to protect her grew within me. It looked like I really was falling in love with her if I was ready to throw myself in harm's way to make sure she was safe. As always, my two swords were with me, so I was ready for any threat that showed itself.

"Mugi-chan, Mio-chan!" It was the voice of Ritsu coming from the crowd. She pushed several soldiers aside (one of which pushed back) and ran over to us. "I think you two better clear out. Hirasawa got hurt pretty badly, and half a dozen of those Varyag girls are dead I think."

"Hurt? Dead? Ritsu, tell us what's going on!" Mio demanded, squeezing my hand like she was trying to break it. It sounded like she was trying to be brave, but I could clearly hear the fear in her voice. I just stood there calmly, probably looking apathetic to them.

Ricchan quickly filled us in, "Remember how we fought of Mugitsu when she was trying to steal that book from Nakano-san? Well, she came back for it and took it just like that. She flew in on that serpent of hers, roasted a bunch of those army girls with some magic, blew the rest away, shoved past Hirasawa, and managed to take that book back."

"Then we get it back, right?" I suggested.

"She's past the crowd, if you wanna try and get it back from her." Ricchan replied, and that was all the incentive I needed. Not only had Mugitsu hurt Yui-chan, according to Ritsu here, but she was also stealing things from Azusa-chan. Both of which I considered to be very bad things. Plus, _plus_, this could be my chance to confront her about those stories, and what her relation with me was.

"Mugi, w-wait!" Mio cried as I rushed towards the crowd. Her hand let go of mine, and I realized that I was going to have a tough time pushing through all these people. I probably stood a better chance pushing past the defenses of a group of linebackers than these girls.

"I'll be okay, I promise!" I called back to Mio. I didn't see her reaction, but I couldn't imagine it being a happy one.

In Japan, I would have probably attempted to politely ask these women to move so I could get through. My voice would have been gentle and meager, and they would have ignored me. Now, I was in a hurry, and I had a flying magical sword that tended to scare the pants off people. I let Sword-chan off my back and had her fly right next to me. That was enough to make them get out of my way. Now if only I had this ability at amusement parks! No lines ever again, aha!

The Infantry Breakers had formed a circle around Mugitsu and her scary, horrible, awful, adjective-for-negative serpent monster. I guess they were attempting to trap her, but forgot that her mount could just fly away over them. Just like Mio, she stood hauntingly beautiful under that same nightly glow. It wasn't a tender beautiful like Mio had been, but more akin to the beauty of a rose lined with deadly thorns. I mentally kicked myself for using such a cliché metaphor. Under one of Mugitsu's arms was a leather-bound book (I hoped it was leather) bound by a leather strap. In her other hand, was a shining silver long sword, splattered with red blood.

Against Ui's Place, Yui-chan sat against the stone wall while Azusa-chan tried to tend to her wounds. I couldn't see what happened to her, just that she had been hurt and had blood staining her face. She wasn't crying, so I hoped that her wounds weren't severe. Nothing Mio couldn't cure anyway.

"Tsumugi, looking as lovely as ever." She greeted me with a mockery of a bow.

"You hurt Yui-chan." I said through gritted teeth.

"She was in my way." Mugitsu shrugged in an offensively nonchalant way. "Your Sentinel friend will be fine. The dogs you hired from Varyag, well, they're out of luck."

That brought about a series of angry, vengeful shouts from the women circling her. It was just me and her standing in the open. To me, it felt like a sumo ring, with two combatants ready to face off. We both paced around the edge of this circle, eyes focused on one another.

"Give Azusa-chan back her belongings." I demanded.

"_Hers?_ Dear sister, you are sadly mistaken if you believe that little girl rightfully owned this tome of dark magics. Think about it, who do you think should possess ownership of such a dangerous book? A child who has no understanding of the sheer amount of evil power that's contained? Or someone who has studied magic their entire lives and has a full understanding of it?" The smirk of her face was enough to make my blood boil, and erase my previous thoughts of diplomacy.

"She wasn't using it though, so it wasn't dangerous in her hands." I countered.

"Oh?" Mugitsu raised an eyebrow. "You seem awfully angry about this."

"You hurt and stole from my friends!" I shouted at her. Sword-chan lunged forward ever so slightly; my version of a threat.

"So scream and spit at me, you were always good at that." Mugitsu just rolled her eyes, then turned and stepped towards her bestial mount. "This exchange is over."

"Wait!" I blurted out.

"Hmm?" She glanced back at me.

I didn't want this exchange to be over, and I knew I was handling this about as poorly as possible. I had imagined myself running in, and acting as this kind diplomat to somehow soothe tension, and ended up just yelling at her, and making threatening gestures. Her words hit me hard though, _"You were always good at that."_ When Azusa-chan had told me that story, I thought about how different that Tsumugi and I were from each other. Maybe we weren't all that different if she said something like that. I didn't want to be _that_ Tsumugi.

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

"What was that?"

"I said I'm sorry!" I shouted again, but this time with no hostility in my voice. I took a chance, let my guard down, and had Sword-chan fall to the ground. "I don't want you to be my enemy, or Sakuragyfli's enemy. It…it isn't good for anyone."

Her blue eyes shined with complete surprise at my words, like she wasn't sure how to react. Slowly, Mugitsu sheathed her sword and turned around. Her high boots crunched through melted snow as she stepped to meet me face to face. In a softer tone, she spoke, "I had no plans to use the spells in this book against Sakuragyfli, if it makes you feel any better."

"You said it had evil magic in it. Does it really matter where it gets used?" I asked her, and our blue eyes met each other. I tried to look for something in those eyes I could emphasize with. Passion, anger, sorrow, hope; anything. I didn't see anything, it was like looking into the eyes of the dead.

Mugitsu took a deep breath and shoved that book into my hands. I was surprised and confused at the same time. I hadn't expected her to just give up like this.

"I only wanted this book for one spell in particular." She told me, her voice barely above a whisper. "Days pass and all the goals I once had have faded away. The dream I followed that ended in your death means nothing to me anymore. I won't bother you again about this book if you do me one favor."

"What do you want me to do?"

"It's been how many centuries since our fight? I can't even remember, it seems so long ago. I had almost forgotten you too, until I heard you had slain my old general. I think… I think this is my chance to right what I wronged so long ago. Some kind of powerful magic has brought you back from the dead, and it must have happened for a reason. I take it as my chance for redemption from the gods. So, I ask you, sister, will you let me treat you to an evening in Varyag's capital city, Lutvjarg?"

"I believe that could be arranged." I answered her without thinking. I felt surreal for a moment, like I wasn't myself. I blinked, and for a moment I had a sense of déjà vu, and saw the memory of a much younger Mugitsu in my mind. She was smaller than me in this image, wearing a light sundress, and smiling softly.

_"Let me treat you to a night out, Onee-chan. It's the least I can do to repay you."_

I blinked rapidly, chasing away those memories from a life I hadn't lived. My head hurt, and I was having trouble remembering just who I was right now.

"As an added sign of good grace on my part, those two are invited as well." Mugitsu pointed her metal gloved hand at Yui-chan and Azusa-chan. "They can think of it as a double date if they'd like. From what I saw the Sentinel trying to do to her, this shouldn't be anything new for them."

It only took me a moment to register that Mugitsu had approached those two while Yui-chan was trying to do something inappropriate again.

I was jealous.

"Agreed." I said without thinking again. This could have been a trap, a convenient way to take me out of the picture.

Mugitsu smiled and drew her silver sword again. Seeing that thing made me nervous even if she didn't seem malicious anymore. "Are you free three days from now? Of course you are, because I know you don't do anything. I also know that whatever force brought you back, also erased your memories and replaced them with something else. Maybe if we just talk and I guess… _bond_, your memories will return."

"Maybe." I kept my calm appearance, but my insides were swimming with maddening confusion. For a brief moment, I had seen a memory that wasn't mine. What did that mean? Mugitsu seemed to think I was some kind of zombie brought back to life with memories altered. The scary thing was that theory wasn't something I could disprove.

"Of course, if we keep pleasantly chatting, the people around us are going to get suspicious so…" With reflexes beyond what any normal person could have possessed, Mugitsu swung her sword towards my face. I shouted, shut my eyes, and tried to force myself to wake up like I was in a nightmare. Instead of slicing my face open, her sword slammed against it like it had a blunt edge. That was right, her sword couldn't cut my skin or something because it was cursed.

That didn't stop it from hurting really bad. I wasn't bleeding, thank God, but it felt more or less like someone had slammed my face between a car door. My knees buckled and I fell into the slush at my feet, clutching my aching face. The pain was intense, making my vision blur so I could only see Mugitsu's wavering form walking away. Soldiers were at my side in an instant, asking if I was alright or if I needed medical attention.

My head was still swimming, and I was beginning to wonder if Mugitsu had covertly cast some sort of spell over me. Mio was there, helping me to my feet, working as a crutch. I couldn't speak, only sort of whimper and cry from getting hit in the face.

Infantry Breakers took that as their cue to strike, and threw themselves at Mugitsu as she calmly stepped towards her flying serpent. They couldn't even make it to her. There was some sort of enchantment around her, and they were pushed back just before they got within striking distance of her. This provoked a series angry and frustrated shouts, with the general consensus being that Mugitsu was a coward.

**MAKING SENSE OF THINGS**

I stood up against Mugitsu, got that book back, and sent her flying off. In the eyes of the Infantry Breakers I was now accepted, or at least treated as being human. Mio, Ritsu, Azusa, Yui, and I all sat around the fireplace at Ui's place. Apple cider was made for us, and all the soldiers were kicked out so we had a bit of privacy. Mio was leaned against me, and we were sharing a nice warm quilt. There were no rings to keep us warm, only each other. Yui-chan apparently had been slashed across her chest several times by Mugitsu, and was healed by Mio. The pain in my face had quickly subsided, but left a thin line of a bruise across my forehead, nose, and cheek.

Chicks dug scars.

"So uh…" Azusa was the first of us to speak. She had gotten her book back, and had it in that portable hole, safe and sound. After Eila heroically sacrificed herself in the bravest manner in a way that would make Sanya proud, Azusa had taken to trying to keep it with her. Mugitsu somehow found out and made her move. "Mugi is quite the diplomat, huh?"

The way she said that made it hard to tell if she was being sarcastic or something.

"I'm confused." Yui-chan admitted, surprising nobody. "One moment they're screaming at each other, then they're whispering and smiling, then Mugi-chan gets hit in the face."

"She keeps mistaking me for her dead sister, and it makes talking to her… interesting." I told them. "Weren't you all listening when she and I talked? We were practically yelling, and I know you were right behind me for most of it, Mio."

"I don't speak the Divine Tongue." Mio quietly said.

"Divine Tongue, what? Her and I were speaking plain Japanese, or Aibureidon I think is what you call it." I wasn't understanding what she meant at all.

"No, you two were speaking the Divine Tongue." Azusa added.

"That's what I heard." Yui agreed.

"How is that possible?" I felt that same frustrating sense of confusion; like this was all a dream. Now I was speaking languages I didn't know without realizing it, and having memories that weren't mine. This was only reinforcing Mugitsu's frightening theory about me, and that scared me worse.

"Magic." Mio answered. "She probably cast a spell on you so you could understand and speak her language. Mugitsu's a powerful enough mage that she can probably cast certain spells without having to go through the somatic gestures like I do. I think maybe that legend about her being a fallen Valkyrie is true though. She mistakes Mugi for the sister she killed, and even speaks the language of the Gods."

"If that's true though, then how do we stop someone who's immortal?" Yui-chan asked. There wasn't a trace of confidence in her voice.

"She killed her sister, so there's gotta be a way to kill Valkyries." Ricchan pointed out.

"Remember the Old Gods too? They all died as well, so immortals aren't impossible to kill." Azusa contributed.

I then said my piece, "No, we don't have to kill her. She… wants to make peace with me, or us, I think. She said she didn't have goals or plans, but made a deal with me so I could get the book back."

"A deal, what sort of deal?" A worrisome Mio asked.

"She wants to…" I laughed to myself. "…take me out to dinner in Varyag's capital. I guess she wants to make sure if I'm really her sister or not; which I most certainly aren't. Also, she suggested Yui-chan and Azusa-chan go along too so it's less awkward."

"You've got to be kidding me…" Azusa groaned.

Yui-chan threw and arm around her shoulder and cheered, "A date with Azu-nyan in the grand glowing city of Lutvjarg? Count us in! Ooh, I wonder if I can find something nice to wear, like a tuxedo."

Mio looked extremely unhappy with this idea. "A date with…Mugitsu? You can't seriously be considering that, can you, Mugi?"

"It's either that or she takes back that evil book. I can think of worse compromises we could have made." I told her. I turned my head to meet her eyes and saw that she looked _jealous_. There was a frown her face, and a look that suggested she was ready to slap me. I smiled at her and tried to cheer her up, "It won't be date like our one together soon. We'll just have dinner and talk, while keeping an eye out on Yui-chan."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Azusa asked.

"Don't worry, Azu-nyan, I'll help you find a nice dress." Yui seemed awfully excited about this, despite having to spend an evening with a woman who horribly injured her every time they met. That kind of willingness to entirely excuse violent acts to be with Azusa was almost inspiring. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Yui was in love with Azusa. I was okay with this.

"I don't like it…" Mio sighed, but smiled back at me. "She's dangerous and unpredictable though, and I should be thanking you for making her leave. Not only that, but you're risking yourself by having an evening with the enemy."

Yui-chan more or less threw herself in between us before I could reply. "Don't worry, Mio-chan, I'll be there to make sure nothing happens to Mugi-chan!"

"You mean Mugi will be baby sitting and protecting _you_." Mio grunted and shoved Yui off of us.

"That depends on whether or not I have Sword-chan during this." I pointed out. "Mugitsu seemed genuine though, and I don't think she'll hurt me if she thinks I'm her sister. She also said something about redemption for her actions."

"Either way you need to be careful, Mugi. None of us can imagine losing you." Mio wrapped her arms around her neck, and for a moment I thought she was going to kiss me in front of everyone. I didn't want Ricchan to be present for that. There was no kiss, we just looked at each while smiling. Smiling was something I wasn't doing enough of since Eila died.

It was getting late, all of us were tired.

**A LONG AWAITED NIGHT**

I had all the reason in the world to look forward to that night. A soft warm bed, a body to share it with, and someone to talk to; _really talk to_. Mio's room was lit by dim candle light, giving it an aura I found suitably romantic. I was giddy, and bursting with anticipation towards what would happen that night. I didn't know what exactly that something would be, but I was looking forward to finding out. I sat at the edge of Mio's luxurious bed, and felt myself reminded of my own back home. She was behind the changing screen of her room, looking for proper nightwear.

"What do you think Mugi? Should I go with the blue or red nightgown?" She asked me. All I could see was her silhouette in the candle light. She was naked behind there, and part of me wanted… no, _all_ of me wanted to see her like that. There was no sense in denying those perverted urges in me.

"Either is fine, just wear whatever's comfortable." I replied, hoping that would be nothing.

"Hmm, alright, I'll wear this then. What about you Mugi, what do you sleep in normally? I hadn't even thought for you to go and get your things and bring them here. Should I send someone to do that?"

"Sword-chan and Masamune are the only things I have." I told her, and watched her silhouette fit into what looked like a short nightgown.

"What do you sleep in then?" She asked, and stepped into clear view. It was a short, white gown she was wearing, that provided an excellent view of her legs.

"My panties." I answered honestly. "I came to this world in my pajamas, but they were torn to pieces and my robe has disappeared."

"Oh." Mio blinked. "That… doesn't bother me at all, if you're comfortable sleeping that way. Maybe I'll do the same thing so you won't be alone… neither of us will have to be alone…" She was just standing there, blushing. "Whatever you'd like Mugi, just…. Sorry, I'm not used to doing…. Whatever it is we're doing."

I couldn't help but giggle at her. "Please, Mio, relax. I'm not going to bite you."

"D-Did you want to bite me?" She stuttered.

"Come here." I offered my arms out to her. This was it. This was finally it. I was going to take her into my arms and whatever happened, happened. Slowly, she stepped towards me. Each step was delicate, graceful and light; I wouldn't forget them due to what followed. Our hands met with our fingers lacing together. I fell back and pulled her onto me, putting our faces just inches away. We looked into each other's eyes for a brief moment before giving into our hearts. Our lips finally in the throes of romance. Her soft, wet lips against mine instantly remedied all of the emotional pain and anxiety I had been feeling that day and the days before. We kissed, and I closed my eyes and felt like I was now in my own little world made of pure happiness extract. Euphoria sent my heart racing and my toes curling. This moment was better than anything I could have ever dreamed. I don't know how long that kiss lasted. Seconds, minutes, it didn't matter. All I knew was that it was amazing. Our tongues brushed but once, and I was greeted with a taste I did not expect. She tasted like... there was nothing to compare it to. It was a chemically kind of taste, but it wasn't bad at all.

After what could have been a life time, we broke it off. I opened my eyes again, seeing Mio above me. As if only to play on clichés, there was a thin trail of saliva between both our lips standing as testimony as to what we had done.

"My first kiss." Mio said in a wispy voice.

"Mine too." I lied. I didn't want to talk about those other three, since one had been what I called "kiss rape", the other an embarrassing mistake, and the last being an act of trickery. In my eyes, _this_ had been my first and only kiss so far. With hopefully many more to come.

"You made it perfect. Thank you." She looked as happy as I felt. Thankfully, she began kissing me again before I could say anything to detract from the moment. Despite having her entire body weight pressed on me, I felt fluffy and lighter than air. I hoped I was a good kisser, because I didn't have any experience with this. This time the kiss was more passionate, more than just our lips pressed together. This time our tongues danced with one another. Small moans escaped her, meaning that I was doing something right. Like before, the taste of Mio was strange, but not unwelcome. It was exotic, and certainly did nothing to halt my exploration of her mouth with mine. As our passion continued, I found it harder and harder to think straight, or at all. Lust enflamed inside me, turning my panties wet, and making me want her in a more unchaste way.

I let go of one of her hands and pressed it between her legs. Her panties were wet, and her sex was hot to the touch. Upon me touching her, she squeaked once and broke off this kiss.

"N-Not until marriage." Mio stuttered as she pushed my hand away.

She was right. I had gone too far with that. Even if circumstances were strange, Akiyama Mio was still a noble lady and in a way, I was too. Touching that kind of sacred place wasn't something I could right now. That didn't stop me from wanting to lay spread eagle for her though. My body was practically begging for that.

"Sorry, I went too far." I apologized with a blush on my face.

Mio kissed me on the lips again. "It's not like I don't want it either. We just need to wait until we're sanctified together."

"I can still kiss you though, right?" I must have sounded like a little kid in the way I said that.

She smiled, and pecked me once more on the lips. "You don't even have to ask."

And again we kissed each other with that same passion as before. It was just as wonderful, and maybe even a bit better now that I was starting to get used to it. It was all perfect right now. It was so perfect that it made every stupid risk and dangerous moment in the some 125k words leading up to this worth it completely. I had come to Sakuragyfli by playing some song and now here I was kissing the mirror of a friend I had in Japan, and had fallen in love with her. My life was certainly strange, but I was happy with it. Our kisses were broken up momentarily so Mio could pull her nightgown off. She sat up on my lap, giving me a perfect view of her naked chest. If I were an anime character, my nose would have exploded in a torrent of blood. Her breasts were just so round, soft, so absolutely gorgeous.

Mio grabbed one of my hands and pressed it against her right breast. "These are for you if you want them." She offered, blushing slightly.

I... ended up losing myself. I had never really considered myself obsessed with boobs, but having hers right there in my face was too much. I buried my face in one, and groped the other with my hand. They were both soft and firm, truly a blessing from the heavens. I played with her nipple using my mouth. Sucking on it, gently nibbling, using my tongue to play with the hardened nub. I was in my own little sexual paradise now. The only time I let up was to reposition myself so I was on top, and she was laying on her back.

"M-Mugi!" She gasped, that one word was stammered with ecstasy. Her fingers tugging at my hair did nothing else but spur me on. My own libido was on fire now, and my panties were all but ruined because of it. I wanted her fingers inside me, or even my own now. I didn't give in though, because I knew she wanted to wait.

All good things had to come to an end. Even if I wanted to kiss her and suckle her breasts until dawn, I knew too much of a good thing would spoil it for me. In the end, the two of us laid naked in the dark together, wrapped in each other's arms. The room was cold, but her body provided all the warmth I could have ever needed. Her head laid between my breasts, and her finger was busy tracing circles near my belly button.

"My father would hate me if he knew I was in love with you." Mio sighed. "I don't care though. You came in and stole my heart in way no other person could have hoped to do. I love you, Tsumugi."

I leaned in and kissed her forehead. "I love you too, Mio. This night made everything I've had to suffer through worth it. Like I said, there was a Mio from my world who was the same person as you. She and I weren't anything more than friends, but here we're lovers. It's just a little funny to think about. I grew up surrounded with stories and fairy tales about romance and love. I love love, if that makes sense. When I met the other you, and my other friends, I was so desperate to see love between them that I would constantly fantasize, and try to find any sort of kindness between them as acts of romance. Now I have my own love and it's so absolutely wonderful, beyond anything I could have dreamed of. It almost makes me wonder if I want to go back now. If only there was a compromise."

"I don't want you to go back!" Mio cried, and hugged me tight. "Please, stay here with me! I know you have a life elsewhere but... but here you can be so much! I know father will accept you and you could become an Akiyama too. With your fighting ability, kindness and generosity, mixed with my family's wealth and influence, you could become anything you wanted."

"I... don't know yet, Mio." I answered honestly. Now I was torn, and would have to think _hard_ on my dilemma. I loved Mio, I really did, but could I really cease to exist in Japan just like that?

"Please, I'll do anything to make you stay!" She begged, squeezing me even tighter. It sounded like she was beginning to cry. "I know it's selfish to want to keep you here to myself when you have friends and family in another world. I can't help it though, you're just perfect for me and I've loved you since our ride to Varyag together. I remember it perfectly. You were so kind to me, showering me with compliments and attempts to make me feel better about my magic. The one thing I've been so self-conscious about, you've embraced fully and support. I was afraid to even kiss you because I know you can taste the effects of magic on my tongue. That seems trivial, I know, but it means the world to me that you're so accepting. At the same time though, I barely know anything about you beyond what you've done, along with your beauty and kindness. So, let me fix that, tell me about you. I want to know everything Tsumugi Kotobuki wants me to know about her."

"Like I said, don't expect too much."

I spent the rest of our waking time telling her everything there was to know about me. My childhood, my parents, school, what life in Japan was like. She laid against me and listened quietly, commenting on something every now and then when she saw a similarity between my world and hers. I talked for a long time, and I was half expecting the sun to rise before I was finished. Most of my time was spent telling her about the Light Music Club and my friends there. That part seemed to interest her the most. I told her about the other Mio, how alike they were in personality, and how she and Ricchan seemed to have a thing for each other. My story put her to sleep, but I went on telling her about everything. It wasn't before long that I fell asleep too, cradling my raven haired lover.

I felt great now, better than I had in weeks. I felt like myself again. I felt like the Tsumugi who was kind, caring, and always had a smile on her face. No more frowns for me! No more sitting around feeling sad for myself. Tomorrow, I would wake up looking forward to my day.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Author's Notes for This Monster of a Chapter: **__I feel like I somehow need to justify why these last few chapters have been so god awfully long. It's either this, or a tiny, miniscule update every weeks maybe. I prefer this way, since each chapter has a lot of meat to it. Plus, for those of you who really like this story (I know some of you do!) I feel obliged to give you as much content as possible. Speaking of fans and readers, I'm more or less trying my best to please everyone here. The story is entirely subject to change based on what readers want. So if there's something in particularly want to see, go ahead and leave a review saying so, and I'll do my best to consider it. In fact, I encourage comments, questions and requests through reviews. I like interacting with readers!_

_Speaking of which, I know some of you wanted a Mugi/Azusa pairing (or no pairing at all). Even if Mugi has given herself to Mio, there could be other opportunities for romance. Don't count those possibilities out yet! Speaking of romance, I have to say this chapter was probably the hardest to write yet by far. I liked the outcome, and I hope everyone else did too. Plus I can officially say I'm the only K-On! fanfiction writer to write a love scene to the tune of Polish death metal._

_Beta'd by the beta-class MisterYada, because I was the only one awake and neurotic enough at the time._


	15. An Evening With The Enemy

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 15**

**AN EVENING WITH THE ENEMY**

"_So in the midst of these crying walls  
>Past and presence formed,<br>Yet memories were never kept alive  
>If they were to, they'd swallow every bit of hope<br>A day to see light arise." _

_~From Below_; _The Fall of Every Season_

Mio's father was oblivious to the relationship between his daughter and me. Mio's father was oblivious to me outside of what I did for his little city-state. While I would have much rather had his approval, it was better that he was unaware and ignorant, than aware and angry. Now I had a warm bed and a warmer body to share it with. Things were good now.

_Mio… Mio…_

Her name was always in my head now. It was a shame her father was keeping her occupied with trivial political things in the hopes of turning her into a good leader. I wanted to be with her during every second now. After we slept together and let our feelings out, she had become my entire life. Only two days and two very happy nights, had passed since then. During each of those days, I practiced more with Yui-sensei and Azusa-chan. We mostly went over our lessons of the first day, and I was becoming quite adept. Azusa-chan… not so much, she just wasn't a fighter.

I had heard people say, _"I'm a lover, not a fighter." _I found I could be both. I would be whatever Mio needed me to be.

_Mio…_

Such a pretty name. It just flew off the tongue so gracefully.

Currently, I was discussing with Azusa and Yui about what was going to happen that night. We sat on the path to the castle on some large, smooth rocks just perfect for sitting on. This was right near the path that Yui, Eila, and I marched up for that first battle. It was turning into our group's usual place. Mugitsu said three days from now, and this was the third day. According to them, Lutvjarg was over a thousand miles away. I assumed we'd go by magic, since I had been able to jump between worlds that way. The two of them were arguing about something again, with Yui on the silly defensive. I hadn't seen Mio so far that day and wondered if she was thinking about me. I decided I would try to get her a present while we were out. Maybe she'd reward me with a kiss. No, wait, she let me do that any time I wanted. I had to keep my kisses in moderation, so I didn't spoil them.

Her lips were just so kissable though… Nothing was better than embracing her slim form, and feeling her breasts against mine as my lips met hers. Then my hands would drift down her back, gripping her butt and…

I needed to stop fantasizing. While my ring kept _me_ from freezing, it didn't stop liquids like sweat from flash freezing. It wouldn't do anyone any good if I started getting aroused by thinking of Mio. The implications of that were awful in this cold weather.

"…I'm telling you, Ui will have it made for me!" Yui-chan enthusiastically said to Azusa. I had no idea what they were talking about, because I have been lost in thought about my little raven haired princess.

"In one day? Does she even know your measurements?" Azusa asked, sounding like she didn't believe Yui at all. I trusted Yui about as far as I could throw her. Being that I had enough upper body strength to do more than a dozen chin-ups, and when you factored in the trust to distance formula, I practically trusted her with my life!

"What about you, Mugi-chan, what will you wear?"

I blinked. "I hadn't even thought about that. A proper night out certainly requires something nice. Let's see I have my…" I paused, thinking over my Japanese wardrobe. That didn't help because I wasn't in Japan. "…I have this muddy tunic here, these breeches and these boots. I don't even have anything to wear under my shirt."

"Why don't you buy new clothes then?" Yui asked me.

"I have no money, at all." I told her. "In fact, everything I've had given to me, including all my meals, has been the courtesies of others. I'm very thankful for it, even if I would rather support myself."

"So noble…" Azusa sighed. "To think you helped bring back all that stuff from the dragon's lair, and didn't ask for so much as a single coin."

I… actually hadn't thought to do that. I was a really bad adventurer. Being dirt broke and having to mooch everything off of other people was fun though. Nobody seemed to mind and it was an interesting change of pace from being Princess Tsumugi back at home.

"You know me, aha." I forced a smile, now feeling stupid. "But in all seriousness, I will need something to wear, won't I?"

Yui had an interesting suggestion, "You could go as is. Dirty, covering in sweat from our training earlier, it'd be a new fashion trend."

"But I don't want to be dirty and smelly." I pouted.

"I may have something for her, but it would be small." Azusa offered.

"I didn't know you had clothes with you." I replied, then realized something… I had carried her as is to Sakuragyfli, but here she was with a different outfit every day. "Where are you getting them?"

"From that portable hole I have." She answered. "I keep nearly everything I own in there. Litvyak-san has been really nice by letting me keep it in her room when I'm not using it."

Sanya… that was a name that instilled guilt upon me whenever it was mentioned. We told her that Eila had heroically sacrificed herself to save us from some unexplained menace but she somehow knew it was my fault. I didn't know how, she just knew. Ever since then, the only interaction between us were hateful glares towards me if I ever saw her. Yui told me how she barely spoke or ate anymore, just did her nightly duties and slept the day away. I felt awful about it, and wished there was something I could have done to cheer her up. What could I do to make it better, though? _"Here, sorry your closest friend died after kissing you on the lips; shit happens you know?" _I didn't think there was anything I could say, anything I _deserved_ to say. Eila dying was because of my actions, I would live with the burden of my actions, but wouldn't let them keep me down.

Despite going over this in my mind, I was as happy and pleasant as ever outwardly.

"And you'd be willing to share?" I asked, putting on my best puppy-dog face.

Azusa giggled, "When you ask like that, I can't say no."

"Oh thank you, I'm sure we'll find something! Let's go the bath house where it's private!" I happily stood up and took her by the hand. I was excited, because choosing a proper outfit was what I considered quality entertainment. Add friends into the mix and you have a tasty helping of happy Mugi. Off we went!

We had a grand journey of about ten meters before we were stopped. Standing in the full light in Sakuragyfli was none other than Mugitsu. It was probably a miracle that nobody was walking this road then. She was in her armor, as always, but she seemed slightly different. This was the first time I had seen her in full light with no obstruction. All the other times it had been either snowing, rainy, or I just plain didn't have a good view. As I had stated before, she was beautiful in her own way. It was just now that I realized that Mugitsu looked easily twice my age. Her arms were crossed, and her weight was clearly on one foot. This was more or less her standard pose.

Azusa was the first to speak, "W-What are you doing here?"

Yui quickly cut in front of her, "Azu-nyan, remember, she doesn't speak our language. Hold on, let me try talking to her… _Quiero un poco de drogas? Dónde están? Tengo dinero._"

"I can speak with you two just fine, thank you. Also, that is _not_ how you greet someone in that language." Mugitsu rolled her blue eyes. "Anyway, I'm just showing up early to tell when I'll show up to take us to Lutvjarg. They're two hours behind us, so I think we'll leave around nine o'clock. Be ready then."

She didn't sound like she was planning a night out, but like she was giving orders to soldiers.

"We will be." I replied in a pleasant tone. She eyed me suspiciously.

"I thought you'd be much more reluctant towards this…" Mugitsu remarked, still eyeing me.

"It's better than fighting, right?" I smiled.

She nodded, "Yes, I suppose so. I would be lying if I said I didn't like making your Sentinel friend bleed, though. Hirasawa is it?"

Yui nodded, reluctantly. There was a clearly uncomfortable look on her face. I was uncomfortable with what Mugitsu had said too.

Mugitsu laughed at her. "Oh, why do you look so unhappy? Onee-, err, Tsumugi has a point. This is better than you bleeding in a crumpled heap at my feet, right?"

"I guess…" Yui looked the other way. I took a step towards her and was able to wrap my arm around her shoulder.

"Cheer up, I'm sure we'll have a great time." I assured her.

Azusa, on the other hand, didn't share my level of happiness at all. Taking a more courageous stance, she raised her fist, "Why are you doing this, Mugitsu? How can you go from hurting us and causing all sorts of problems to just wanting to go out like we're friends? I know there's more to this."

Mugitsu gracefully walked over to Azusa and patted her head like she was a pet. Azusa growled at this as the older woman spoke, "You're right, small one. There is more to it. Do I have some kind of ulterior motive that involves murdering you three? No, I don't. I've merely accepted that there are things I cannot change, namely the end of the world. Ragnarok will come soon. Maybe not in your life time, but certainly in mine. I would prefer to face the end on a happier note."

_So she did kill me for no reason other than spite._

I blinked in surprise at that sudden thought that had popped into my mind. I guess happiness overdose was starting to mess with my mind.

"I'm still not letting my guard down." Azusa pushed away from her.

Mugitsu looked at Yui and me and gave us a mockingly sweet smile. "Isn't this one adorable? She thinks she could defend herself against me."

Yui bravely stepped forward, "Don't worry, Azu-nyan, I'll be here to protect you from anything."

"I don't need protection!" Azusa shouted at her.

"I'll protect you too, if anything happens." I added in.

"Except if Mugi wants to help me." She amended. This made Yui pout.

Mugitsu took a step back and said a farewell, "That's that then, I will see you three tonight. It is my hope that we will have a pleasant time and that some of the hostilities between us shall vanish."

I noticed her horrible scary mount wasn't there and wondered if she would leave us by some kind of magical teleporting. I didn't know what she did. With a quick trace of her finger, she just kind of flickered out of existence, completely gone from sight.

"She seems genuine." Azusa muttered in a low voice.

"It's a good thing. Because I don't think I could beat her in a fight." Yui said and began walking along. We followed. I had total faith in Yui, but Mugitsu _did_ seem to come out on top every time they scuffled. We walked and Yui continued her thought, "Even if she's really scary, you have a point Mugi. It is better that we do this than fight her. Plus, she seems happy too so that's also a good thing. It looks like our luck is getting better now. If she really did have a change of heart, it would mean no more battles and no more death here."

"My thoughts exactly." I smiled and nodded.

"I'm still not completely sure about this." Azusa sighed.

Up ahead was another person waiting to greet us. This time it was Ricchan, she hurried on over to see what was up.

"I saw you three talking to Mugitsu just now, what was that all about?" She asked us right away.

I answered, "We were just talking about tonight. It wasn't anything bad, don't worry."

Ricchan sighed a sigh of relief, "Phwew, I thought for a moment that she was going to try and start something again. Good thing she didn't, I don't have my bow with me. Anyway, you three better be careful tonight, because we can't trust her."

"We know." Azusa deadpanned.

"Alright, cool to hear." She continued, "Maybe some time I'll train with you guys when I'm not busy. Between all these messages between the gods lately and having to help the militia and Infantry Breakers work together, I barely have any time for fun anymore. According to Litvyak, there's another wave of frost giants marching through The Wastes at us, so while you're out with Mugitsu I'll be here planning against her attacks. I was hoping this would keep her off the battlefield, but Litvyak says the giants are days away right now. Well, I have work I need to do. Talk to you later, Mugi, see you on the battlefield."

Ricchan patted me on the shoulder and jogged off towards town in a hurry. She looked pretty upbeat despite how much work she had to do. I wished I had more time to spend with her.

"You're fighting in that battle?" Azusa asked me as soon as she was gone.

"News to me." I replied. "What about you, Yui-chan?"

Yui nodded, "Yep, I'll definitely be there. You should come too, Mugi-chan, you'd be super helpful against those giants."

"I'll think about it…" I told her, and began walking again through the gates, "…I haven't had much trouble with these battles before. As long as all the credit is given to Sword-chan, since she does all the work."

"Does Freyr know you have his sword?" Azusa asked me as the three of us walked side by side.

I shrugged, "I don't know, actually. If he wants Sword-chan back, then he can have her. It's not like I can get a hold of a god and tell him that I have his things."

"True…" She agreed.

We made it halfway across the courtyard before a _third_ person stopped us. This time, it was more than welcomed. Mio strode over to us in steps that became faster and faster with each one until she was running towards me. I met her with open arms which resulted in what was a tackling hug from her. I squeezed her tight and spun her around once as we both laughed. Our little spectacle of affection ended with a kiss from me to her.

"You two act like newly weds." Yui commented with a chuckle.

Mio held onto me and happily replied with, "Of course we do. I can't help but feel this way when I'm around Mugi. She feels the same way."

"I do." I confirmed it.

Azusa, on the other hand, didn't seem happy about this. In a voice more unpleasant than the one she spoke to with Mugitsu, she grumbled, "Yes you two are in love and oh-so-happy, we get it. Can we just get a move on though? It's like every ten steps we're getting stopped by someone. You two have the whole damn night to go on about how you complete each other."

"They talk to each other like that all night?" Oblivious Yui asked. "How romantic! Why can't we be like that, Azu-nyan?"

Azusa just shot her a look to kill, and I let go of Mio.

"I guess you're right, sorry." I apologized. "When Mio's around, I can't really contain myself. Let's go though, and cheer up Azusa, it'll be fun!"

"What are you three doing?" Mio asked.

Yui answered for us, "Azu-nyan is showing Mugi all her clothes with hopes that we can find her something nice to wear. If not, she can always set a new trend by looking like a rapist mercenary!"

If someone said I looked like a rapist, I didn't think I knew how I would reply to that.

Mio's eyes brightened at this explanation though, like she had an idea. "Oh, come with me then Mugi. I have all sorts of things for you to wear that would look absolutely great! In fact, I know something _perfect_ for you!"

"_Perfect?_" I swooned, lured in by her excited demeanor.

"Yes, like it was made for you." She nodded, and took me by the hand. "Come on!"

I turned around to Azusa and Yui, who were just standing there. "Well, looks like the problem sorted itself out. You two want to come with us?"

"No." Azusa instantly answered, shoving her hands in her pockets.

"We don't?" A confused Yui asked.

"No, because we don't want to be third and fourth wheels." She replied, turning around to walk away.

"But a good cart needs three or four wheels to function properly." Yui pointed out, still confused.

Azusa sighed, "Come on, Yui-sensei. I'll let you give me a piggyback ride down to Ui's Place where we can play darts with flaming throwing axes. How does that sound?"

"It sounds _amaaazing!_" Yui swooned, stars in her eyes. "Let's go, I bet I can finally beat Ricchan's high score this time!"

They ran off, with Yui practically dragging Azusa. I felt for Azusa, and could see why she didn't want to be near me and Mio. She had tried to do something nice for me, and I ended up pouring cold water all over it. It would be okay though, I'd accept her hospitality tenfold later, and even return it with my own. That would cheer her up. Plus, tonight would be something the three of us were doing together, so she wouldn't feel left out. I wished she hadn't had run off though. I wouldn't have ignored her if she had stayed and I certainly would have seen through her collection of potential clothes. Did Mio accidentally one-upping her really make her that upset? I always outdid her in training, but she was never mad then.

"Let's go!" Mio said again, pulling me along.

**BLUE, LIKE MY EYES**

"It _is_ perfect…" I gasped when I saw what she laid across the bed for me. It was a bright blue silk kimono. Not a yukata, but a full, traditional Japanese kimono. Among the bright blue fabric was a woven floral design entirely in white. It looked hand tailored, and I didn't think I had ever worn anything this nice before. The obi was a lighter shade of blue, and it even came with two sandals to wear along with it.

"You can wear this, and we'll do up your hair." Mio decided.

"Sounds absolutely wonderful. Where did you get something so lovely though? I never see anyone around here wear _Aibureidon_ clothes."

"It belonged to my mother." She answered, her voice lowering a bit. "She didn't leave much when she ran off, but this was one of them. I think it will look good on you."

"I appreciate this thoughtful gift." I told her with a bow.

"You're very welcome. Now strip down so I can help you change into." She commanded, and I did so. "Also, something I wanted to tell you. Don't do that thing you did in the courtyard again."

"What thing?" I asked, and pulled my tunic off from over my head.

"Kissing me. There had to have been a dozen people there watching." She replied. I was surprised, because she looked almost mad at me.

"W-Why? I like kissing you."

"Because I don't want everyone knowing!" Mio snapped at me.

"What's wrong with that? Yui-chan and others seemed really happy for us."

Mio gave me a swift smack against the side of my head. "Idiot, that's how my father will find out! Those people are part of the militia, and they'll tell my father if they see you and I kissing or doing other things that he wouldn't like. Come on, Mugi, think for once!"

She…she hit me! It was just like how she hit Ritsu playfully, but… it wasn't playful at all! I didn't understand, she had practically jumped into my arms back there, and said how happy I made her for it. Now she was telling me I was doing the wrong thing? Relationships were strange.

"S-Sorry…" I squeaked, my hand against the spot where she had hit me. It didn't really hurt, but I could feel the impact still. "I… I need to take a bath before I change, I just remembered."

"Alright, go on ahead and I'll wait for you here." There was no apology.

**WAITING**

I was… there was no way to say it without sounding conceited. I was absolutely beautiful now. In the bath, I had run into Ui and Mio's militia medic cousin who sounded like me, Yuuko. They both went out of their way to help me get my hair done just right. I had it up in a bun on one side, with the rest falling down the side of my face on the other. It was like what I imagined having it styled like for a music video to our song _Don't Say Lazy_. I had music videos thought up for a number of our songs actually. My favorite was _Listen_, where we walked around inside a giant cake. I know it sounded silly, but I imagined it being really awesome! I even got to wear a sailor's hat! Imagining music videos for you and your friend's garage band was totally normal.

We decided to wait for Mugitsu at 'our place', that rock on the path to the castle. The sun had set, and the way was lit with torches. I liked Sakuragyfli at night. The clouds parted, the moon came out, the stars shone, and the place was lit with torches giving it a pretty orange glow. I only got a brief moment in with Mio. She complimented me, and we said good bye for now. Now I was walking to meet Yui and Azusa. Only the latter was there.

"Whoa…" Azusa reacted to my outfit and hair. "You clean up _nice_. It's like you're a totally different person."

"Aww, thanks." I blushed. "Where I'm from, I wore clothes like this a lot more often. I didn't look like a rapist mercenary at all."

Azusa giggled, "That's probably a good thing. What about me, do you like my outfit?"

She was wearing a simple dark blue, sleeveless gown with matching dress shoes. It was complete with satin gloves that went up past her elbow. For tonight, she looked less like a kid and more like a sophisticated lady.

"I do. You look very pretty, Azusa-chan." I told her.

She seemed overjoyed to hear that. "You think so? Thanks! This is my favorite dress, I'm so happy you like it. When I bought when I was staying in Port Sakurahammaren, it was a bargain and I was able to get two. Except one was bigger, which is great because I'll grow out of this one, and into that one. I was thinking the bigger one would fit you, and we could match. You look better this way though."

"It would have been fun to match, maybe we should have done that." I remarked, and took a seat next to her on that smooth rock.

"One thing real quick…" She took something that she was hiding beneath her bra. At first it looked like a folded up piece of paper, but she unfolded it to reveal that it was her handy portable hole. "Put your weapons in here. We can't walk around a city like this with you armed to the teeth."

"Oh, you're right!" With that, I was able to fit Sword-chan, Masamune, and my wand of fireballs into her space before she hid it again.

"Before Yui-sensei shows up and starts being weird, can I ask you a question, Mugi?" Azusa asked.

"Of course." I pleasantly replied to her question about a question.

She looked up at the night sky and asked something I wished she hadn't. "Mugi, what do you see in Mio?"

"Everything, Azusa-chan." I replied in a much more serious tone. "She makes me happy, loves me, and I'm not lonely anymore."

"Do you friends make you happy?" She asked me.

"Of course."

"Do you feel lonely around us though?"

"No, why would you think that?" There was more emotion in my voice now. She was asking questions I didn't really like, and sounding sad while she did so. I didn't like seeing people sad, so I certainly didn't like the mood Azusa had suddenly taken on.

"I don't, I was just wondering." She shrugged, still looking up at the starry sky. "I know it's not my place to question, and I know you're happy… but… when you told Yui-sensei and me everything that happened between you and Mio, it didn't sound right."

"Didn't… sound right?" I repeated, confused. By the request of Yui, I had told the both of them about how I and Mio fell in love the day after it happened. That was what Azusa was referring to.

"It sounded like something was missing, and like your relationship with her isn't on a strong enough foundation. Like I said, I know it's not my place to say anything, but I think you're setting yourself up to be hurt, Mugi. I know you know about my feeling towards you, but this has nothing to do with them, I promise. I just don't want this thing with Mugitsu to end, and then you find that Mio doesn't want you around anymore because you're no longer useful to Sakuragyfli. From what you said, it sounds like Mio only loves you because of your actions here. She looks at them through this distorted lens that makes you look like this grand hero. But, all your other friends know you're not that, you're just a very caring and kind person who gets into situations she shouldn't be in. The fact that you always seem to succeed is amazing, but I know it's not because you're some great warrior. I just don't want to see you get hurt, Mugi."

"You think… Mio is using me?" I said in sheer disbelief. That was crazy, everything Azusa was saying was crazy. She had a crush on me and was now trying to justify her envy towards Mio. I didn't want things to be like this, her getting bitterly jealous to the point where she would say bad things. What was I supposed to do though? I never thought I would be in this kind of situation. Besides, Mio loved me for me, not just because I was able to kill really big things on occasion.

"Not using you… but…" She stopped, and sighed. "Forget I said anything, I'm already ruining tonight with this."

Before I could reply, I saw Yui walking up from Sakuragyfli to meet us. It was hard to see, but when she got closer, I saw that she was wearing an honest to god tuxedo. She looked, for lack of a better term, _sharp_. I looked like a traditional Japanese maiden, Azusa looked dressed for the occasion, and Yui looked like Bond, _James_ Bond. If I squinted enough, she _almost_ looked like Sean Connery.

"Hey you two, sorry I'm late!" She greeted and quickly sat down next to Azusa. "Ui had to put the finishing touches on this thing, and it took longer than we thought."

"She… actually… m-made this?" Azusa stuttered, clearly amazed.

"Mhm!" Yui nodded, smiling. "Ui's great when it comes to this kind of stuff. We were short on materials, so she wove this out of fiber she got from ale hops. We have so many hops to keep the Infantry Breakers happy, so it all worked out."

"Is that even possible?" Azusa stared at her.

"Nothing's impossible with the power of love!" Yui cheered, then added, "Especially when you consider we live in a world where gods can mold reality in anyway they see fit. You should know that Azu-nyan, you have some magic yourself."

"Yeah, but not much." She shrugged, now a little happier than before when it was just her and me. "I had random question for the two of you, mainly for Yui here. How old are you? I heard Sentinels age in some weird way, so I'm curious.  
>"I'm eighteen." I answered right away.<p>

"I'm not sure." Yui said after.

"You're not sure?" Azusa just stared at her.

"Yeah." She nodded, then explained. "See, we have this little pocket world where time doesn't flow and works like some kind weird temporal stasis. We go there to train and study, so we have infinite time to do both. Time has no meaning there, and you don't age, so you could be there for years without realizing it. I don't like going there because the god, or demon, I'm not sure which, is weird about maintaining the time flow there. See, time doesn't flow, but it exists in the same past, present, future way that it does here. That big god or demon controls what time it is when you arrive. Sometimes you can arrive and end up years in the future there, and meet your future self and stuff like that. Stronger Sentinels use it to predict the outcome events. I think it was Eila who had a mishap entering there and ended up living in two timelines at once."

"That was… oddly informative." Azusa remarked in surprise. "T-Thanks for that, it was surprisingly coherent."

"It explains why I kept seeing things before they happened in her body." I also remarked. "That's really fascinating to me though, because nothing like that ever existed in my world. All this magic, gods, different realities here, it's all really exciting. Even if I do want to go home, part of me wants to stay here and explore this universe learn all it secr- wait, how old are you Azusa?"

"Fifteen." She replied, sounding almost embarrassed to admit it.

Weird, the Azusa I knew was only a year younger than me, not three. It explained why she looked a bit cuter here. I think commenting on her being cute made me a pedophile since I was eighteen, but we were both girls so I was exempt. Double standards saved the day again! In fact, I didn't think I could get away with _half_ the stuff I did here if I were a man. Except for ending up shirtless, because wardrobe malfunctions didn't affect men the same way.

**THE NIGHT BEGINS**

"You three better be ready." Mugitsu's voice was heard before she materialized out of thin air before us with a wrinkle in space. Her traditional black and faded gold armor was replaced now with a dress almost similar to Azusa's, but black like her hair. With that dress, high heeled boots, and a pearl, her 'death witch' image was totally gone. Beyond that, she was wearing red lipstick and had just the right amount of eye shadow. Her hair was done up too, almost like mine, but more symmetrical. I had cleaned up my appearance, Mugitsu had changed it. I didn't see her now as a scary mage waiting to blow things up, but instead she looked like a sexy older woman ready for a party. Needless to say, I was stunned.

"We are, thank you." I replied, and stood up.

She eyed the three of us, taking in our outfits. "You look good, everyone but Hirasawa. Especially you Tsumugi, that color scheme fits you. Reminds me of something you would have worn while we were still normal girls."

"I'd like to think I'm a normal girl." I said to myself.

"So you really are the Mugitsu from those legends." Azusa stood up as well, with Yui following suite.

That made her laugh, "Those legends? Which one? Gods, there has to be a dozen variations of that stupid story; each one more absurd than the last. I especially like the one where they say I was actually a demon sent from Hell in the guise of a twin sister. Man, I swear, know a bit of magic and end up killing someone and you're branded a monster for life."

Her casualness about murdering my counterpart in this world was a little frightening but at the same time it was relieving, because she was in a good mood.

"Which story is true, then?" Azusa asked. "I've heard about four variations, but the Valkyrie Twins version seems to be the most accurate. Plus other legends from that time confirm the existence of two powerful sisters in Aibureido."

Mugitsu shrugged. "That's a secret for me to keep, small one. Believe whatever you want, it doesn't really change anything. See me as a demon, or see me as a fallen Valkyrie or tragic hero, it makes no difference to me."

"I'm just interested in the truth." She said, now a little annoyed.

"What's so fascinating about my life?" Mugitsu smirked and stepped right in front of Azusa. Azusa only came up to her chest, and looked tiny compared to her. "Forget about what I may have done. What about you, Nakano, which story about_ you_ is correct? What if people told a story about you that was false, but everyone believed it? Everyone believed it, so your version all of a sudden means nothing."

"Is that what happened to you?" Azusa asked her.

"No, it isn't. Each of those legends has a grain of truth to it." She backed up and turned away from us. "Let me just get it out in the open then. Yes, I murdered my sister, Tsumugi. Do you know many nations have risen and fallen since then? How many generations of man have passed? It's absurd to think that the Mugitsu then is the same Mugitsu that you see now. That's why I won't tell you the truth, because it simply isn't relevant. It would be like me scolding you now for actions you committed as an infant. I've matured since then, and I'm here to show Tsumugi I'm not the same person I was back then."

"I'm not the same person as her either." I added. "Mugitsu, please show me tonight that there really is good in you. I like to believe everyone has good in them, but you have wronged us before. I don't know if I'm your sister or not or how exactly we're related, but if we're going to ever get close, I need to know that you're not going to hurt any of us."

"Fair enough." She turned around and smiled.

I noticed that Yui hadn't said a word through this. Was she scared?

"Are we going by magic?" I asked after a moment of silence between us four. I wanted this night to be pleasant, but I could see the nerves of my two friends were completely shot.

Mugitsu nodded, "Unless you want to walk."

"Is the option of simply not going still available for me and Yui here?" Azusa asked dryly.

"Sure." Our host took a step closer to me, smiling in a manner that was almost seductive. "Then I would have Tsumugi all to myself."

I couldn't be sure, but I was beginning to think that Mugitsu had an unhealthy attraction towards me. Unhealthy for _me_ at least.

Azusa blinked. "Yeah, I think I'll go."

"Good, good." Mugitsu quickly drew a magical kanji, and I felt the air begin to hum with a strange energy. She held her hand out and said, "Here, you have to be touching me for it to work. Once the three of us are connected, the spell will begin. Try not to throw up when it happens or I'm sending you back to Sakuragyfli with less blood in you than when you left."

I was the first to reach out to meet her hand. She grabbed my hand and pulled me close, her other arm wrapped itself around me. It was strange, her grip that pulled me in had been strong, but at the same time gentle. Against her body, I stood there nervously, and waited for this teleport thing to start. I could smell Mugitsu, and she had that magical smell around her, the same kind that I tasted whenever I kissed Mio. It was much stronger, but beneath it there was a flowery kind of scent, nearly too subtle to notice. Despite looking a lot like me, Mugitsu was a lot taller, with the top of my head only coming up to her chin.

She extended her other hand while holding me close against her. Yui and Azusa gripped it together, and there was a flash of light before my eyes. That magical hum of energy around me was much more pronounced, to the point where it felt like my skin was vibrating. The sensation that came after was difficult to describe. It wasn't like being taken from point A to point B, it was like being taken apart molecule by molecule then put back together somewhere else. This all happened in less than a second as well.

It took me a moment to realize it, but I was clinging onto Mugitsu throughout the whole thing. We arrived on a circular stone landing, about three meters in diameter, and just a step off the ground. There were people around us, and besides just some curious glances, nobody seemed to care that we had just magically showed up here. I guess this was a normal thing. The people around were like the ones from that other city I had visited in Varyag. Very exotic looking and not many of them were even human.

We were at the gates to Lutvjarg it looked like. Massive, towering stone walls surrounded the city, with smaller wooden towers set up around it with soldiers placed up top. The place looked like it was prepared for an all out war with all the soldiers I was seeing around. They looked like the ones from Sakuragyfli, but most of them were men here; massive tanks of men if I may add. Beyond the walls, I could see towering buildings made from both metal and stone. Clouds of smoke drifted out of factories I couldn't see, and the sky was literally pitch black.

The way in was lined with plenty of soldiers, and people were entering one by one. The way through was covered with floating, glowing things that looked liked dust motes. Every time someone passed, the motes would either turn blue or green, then fade to a dim yellow.

I let go of Mugitsu, and took a moment to calm myself. My knees were shaking.

"Here" Mugitsu cast a quick spell and tapped me on the forehead. "I don't know if that Akiyama girl cast this spell on you already, but it doesn't hurt to be sure."

"What did you do?" I asked, more curious than worried.

"Gave you a powerful enchantment." She answered. I liked that sound of that. "If it worked right, you should be able to understand any language spoken and be able to speak it back."

"Wow, that sounds amazing! Thank you!" I added emphasis by happily shaking her hand. Thinking, I could actually think of foreign works from memory and now knew what they meant. Those Finnish road signs I saw during my vacation were now translated in my mind. I now knew what the lyrics to English songs meant… and now I knew what those two Chinese guys were saying about me at that convenience store in Kyoto. They had been saying dirty things, and asking dirty questions. Now I was wondering just how the hell someone could comfortably say those things in public, foreign language or not. I felt dirty, and if I had the chance, I would have told those two guys that, no, I wouldn't do those things so it wasn't worth wondering about out loud. Yes, I was angry.

"You're welcome then, come on, let's get going." She led the way, and the three of us followed.

Yui seemed nervous, "Oh no, I hate these barriers. They always go off because I'm a Sentinel…"

"You get to go first then." Mugitsu decided, taking a step back. Her timing in getting us here was perfect, there wasn't much of a line to get into the city.

"Thankfully I brought my insignia this time, so I won't get detained again." She sighed a sigh of relief and took the lead in line. I wondered what she was talking about, and this reminded me air port security quite a bit.

This was an interesting throwback to the time when Pickles the Cat had stopped me from moving to Finland. He had somehow followed me 50 kilometer to the airport and made me miss my flight. I missed those times, when my own social retardation caused a plethora of problems that Azusa so kindly fixed. That was also when I had created the fictional persona of Mugitsu.

"What's this about anyway?" I asked Azusa, who was waiting behind me.

"It's to keep things like demons and monsters out." She explained, "You can't teleport into the city, so everyone has to go through this magical screen. It turns red if demons enter it, or creatures from other worlds go through. For them to get in, they have to get a special enchantment after taking a test to prove they won't cause trouble."

"Doesn't sound like a bad system." I commented. Kept the bad guys out, which was good.

Up ahead, Yui cautiously walked through. The motes turned green, and the guards didn't react. The relief on her face was palpable. She waved over at us, "Come on!"

Mugitsu was next, and the dust motes turned a bright purple. This got a reaction out of the guards. They seemed surprised, but that was it, until one shouted, "Just keep your powers in check, mage. You know what happens when your kind step out of line here."

She turned around and walked backwards through the rest of the screening, so she could face that guard, "I'd imagine you'd _want_ me stepping out of line if that's the case. Of course, that also implies your cute little guard force could actually do something if I started throwing spells around."

I then realized they were speaking a different language, _Varangian_, and I understood it. Incredible.

The guard didn't look happy about that comment, "That what every other mage that we've taken in has thought. You're not some almighty immortal, you're just some bitch who managed to get a hold of powers you probably don't even deserve. Mages like you are a silver a dozen, and the City of Lutvjarg knows how to take you down quickly and efficiently."

"Like I said, _cute_." She chuckled. The scary thing was, I kind of believed that she _could_ do whatever she wanted here.

I was next, and stepped on through. Since I was a normal person, I probably didn't have to worry about anything. Step by step, I confidently strode through… and the motes turned red around me.

"_Not another step!_" Two of the guards drew their halberds and stepped within striking distance. I was paralyzed, glued to the spot from fear. The worst part was, this wasn't anything new. Stuff like this had happened to me at _multiple_ air ports. I saw other guards marching up, weapons drawn, and the sound of what could have been a rifle loading.

Shaking, I put my hands up, "P-Please don't hurt me."

"Let Mugi-chan through, she's a normal girl!" Yui-chan came to my defense.

Coming in from the city, a new guard stomped towards us, practically shoving Yui out of his way in the rudest manner possible. This guy had to have been seven feet tall, and had different kind of armor than his Infantry Breaking buddies. His was like the armor Mugitsu and Thorbjörnsson had worn, except it wasn't sexy and revealing. It was black and gold, fortified, bulky, and looked like it could stop a 60mm shell from hurting him. He marched right up towards me, looking twice my height from where I was standing. The man looked somewhere in his thirties, with long, thin blonde hair and a thick, bushy mustache. He was scary, and I felt like I was going to cry.

"You have to two options, comrade. Either turn and leave or you can be detained and earn your pass into the city in two to three weeks." He told me in a gruff, surprisingly calm and gentle voice.

"I, I don't know what's going on." I squeaked, and saw Mugitsu slowly walking towards us.

"We get your kind a lot." He went on, "I'm assuming you're from a celestial world. Strange, you look Varangian, but no Varangian girl would ever wear something like that. That's not important though, I'm just saying don't be afraid if you decide to go through the process to earn your pass. The men in charge are kind, and they know that Midgard, especially Lutvjarg can be a frightening place for newcomers like you."

Wait, I understood what he was thinking. He thought I was some kind of angel girl or something, and they don't let people like that in. I was almost flattered that I was mistaken for an angel. Truthfully, he wasn't exactly incorrect in thinking this either. I technically was from another world too."

"She's with me." Mugitsu said to him.

"And who exactly are you?" He looked down at her.

Before our eyes, her sexy black dress changed back into her standard armor in a fluid kind of motion. Her sword was at her belt as well now, and her arms were crossed as usual. Both I and the giant of a man stepped back in surprise.

"Colonel Svea Jagerskiold, Hammaren division. You're what, a localized Infantry Breaker?" She asked with that same angry tone that Thorbjörnsson had used. It looked like she was trying to bluff me through this.

"Aye, I am." He bowed slightly.

"Then I outrank you. This girl is to come through." Mugitsu ordered.

"For what reason? Should anyone else know an outsider is walking our streets unsanctioned, they'll come to me asking about it."

Mugitsu stepped behind me, and placed her hands on my shoulder. "Can't you see? This one is a _Chooser of the Slain_. She is young, and we are both using our down time for her to visit this fair city. The duties of preparing for Ragnarok have left her exhausted, wouldn't you allow her some reprieve?"

To my surprise, he bowed down on one knee before me. This put us nearly eye to eye. "Certainly, my lady. Please enter, and may you bless us with your Asgardian grace and splendor."

"T-Thank you sir." I bowed as well. Mugitsu took me by the hand and lead me forward. Her armor faded back to that dress again like nothing had happened. Azusa passed through just fine, with the motes turning blue.

"Ah, that was scary for a moment." The twin tailed girl sighed, now that were on the other side.

"It was." I agreed.

"It's a good thing Mugitsu is part of their army." Yui commented. "Say, if you're Hammaren, why are the Infantry Breakers allowed to fight you?"

Mugitsu gave an exaggerated sigh at her, "It was a bluff, you little Asperger ridden mess."

"Oh." Yui blinked. "Well, it's a good thing Mugi is actually a Valkyrie then too."

That time, Mugitsu didn't reply to her. Me getting mistaken for one was starting to become routine.

The four of us were now in Lutvjarg, the glowing capital of Varyag. Why was it called the glowing capital? Because there were magically illuminated lights _everywhere_. Whether they kept the city lit, were used for decoration, or served as advertisements, there wasn't anywhere you could look that didn't have them.

**INNERMISSION, A BRIEF LOOK INTO LUTVJARG**

Lutvjarg is original in the sense that has no original culture, architecture, or people of its own. Everything within it is taken from somewhere else, and the city itself wasn't even originally built by humans. Named after King Lutvjarg of Varyag nearly five hundred years ago, the city has served as the seat of commerce and governing of the massive nation. While hundreds of cities across Varyag have risen and fallen over the years with the many civil wars and near constantly political reforms, Lutvjarg has stood the test of time.

Originally built by dwarves who had mastered stone working and metallurgy, Lutvjarg is built over an ancient underground city that has been reformatted mostly to serve as a sewer and waste disposal system. The ground level still maintains many dwarven structures that people use to live; most notable are the massive concrete and metal towers that serve as apartments for the wealthy. The dwarves who originally built the city perished long ago under constant raids from the giants from Mount Kval, which stands ten kilometers north of the city.

Humans were able claim the empty city as their own, and formed the first Hammaren division of their military, a group of soldiers specifically trained to deal with non-human threats. With the giants pushed back, the city was able to grow and thrive, and continues to do so.

Lutvjarg is also one of the only modernized cities to still use slave labor. Not in the traditional sense, though. Hundreds of enslaved and brainwashed mages power the cities famous lights, along with many other daily functions. POW mages are almost always enslaved to work for the city. Beyond just powering the metropolis, these mages also provide scavengers the means to explore ruins in The Wastes east of Varyag and bring back ancient relics and stranded goods from other worlds. There is even a trade district within the city based completely around recovered culture from other worlds, along with the sprites of the old gods. This place is nicknamed, 'The Metal District', and not just because of the abundance of metal sprites that inhabit it. The district is built mostly out of rusted, ancient metal that gives it a distinctive, grungy sort of look.

The overuse of magic has its drawbacks though. The sky had been permanently painted black from the constantly magical aura, and Lutvjarg will never see the sun again. Not only that, but the leftover magical residue has turned the ruins of the dwarven city below into a nightmarish hellscape of mutated monsters and abominations. Beyond the sewers and waste management plants, the ruins below are said to be a bloody dungeon that no person could survive more than a few hours in.

**BACK TO MUGI**

The sights and sound of the city were amazing to me. The towering buildings looked ancient, but yet modern with their glowing signs and advertisements strewn everywhere. If felt like everyone in the city was using magic to try and sell me something. Mostly weapons, armor, and stays at inns it looked like.

_"Come to Dave's Used Battleaxe Store! We're AXING prices as you read this!"_

_ "Mark's Magical Flaming Sword Emporium is having a clearance sale!"_

_ "Sentient acid jellies keep melting your armor? Stop buying mundane armor and come to Bob's Platemail Place!"_

_ "Starbucks… Nowhere is safe from out corporate agenda!"_

_ "Diamond Dozen's Overnight Inn, now just 10gold for a room. Restore your HP and MP here!"_

"So where are we eating?" Azusa asked Mugitsu as the four of us walked. Yui and I were still caught up on all the splendors around us. I thought Yui had been here recently, but she was thoroughly dazzled by everything as I was.

"The _La Nourriture Trop Chère_, a foreign restaurant with exquisite service and prices that could bankrupt a small nation." Mugitsu replied with a proud smile. "I can't think of anywhere more appropriate, really. This is the first time I've gone out with anyone since… Gods, how long ago was it? Right, it was my daughter's wedding in Mikomi. Let's see… that was right after King Lutvjarg the 8th was assassinated."

"Wasn't that nearly two hundred years ago?" Azusa asked in surprised.

"Was it?" Mugitsu shrugged. "I don't pay attention to the passing of time like other people do. The Wastes are like here in Lutvjarg, no day or night. I like it that way, you feel less bound by routine. Makes you more comfortable when you're waging war. You just need to know when it's day and night in other places so you can better send soldiers to burn crops and poison water supplies. Oh, you three should have seen the stuff I used to do to this little pissant colony. I'd send undead to stalk around the edges of town, but never really attack. If the local militia tried fighting back, I'd have my minions run into The Wastes or just drop dead on the ground. I drove them all nuts, murdered the mayor's daughter, then watched as the whole colony spiraled into a paranoid induced chaos. Aha, that was great…"

"Huh… that was an interesting story." I muttered, looking down at my feet as we walked. Every time she said something that made me think she really was a good person, she'd go and add on some horribly misanthropic thing at the end. I didn't want to upset her, but I didn't want to high-five her for being a murderous, insane sociopath either. I really wasn't sure how to react to her boasting about committing atrocities.

There wasn't anything said between us for another ten minutes as we followed Mugitsu.

"So…" I spoke up, finally, "Mugitsu, you mentioned you were a mommy?"

"Mhm." She nodded, smiling earnestly, "You look surprised. I've had several children over the years. My last daughter, actually…" Mugitsu began blushing, "…had blonde hair, so I named her after you. She wasn't immortal, like me, so… years passed I guess."

"I'm so sorry." I replied, giving her a comforting hand on the shoulder.

Mugitsu laughed, "Please, that was long ago, I'm more than over it."

The feeling I got from being around Mugitsu was a strange one indeed. She was, from what I could gather, over a thousand years old and had outlived all her children. Maybe she was right to get enjoyment out of tormenting others if she had done just about everything. I didn't agree with it at all, but I could understand it. Walking next to her was like walking next to an ancient piece of exotic art. The thought of her being immortal made my head spin, because I simply couldn't fathom what it was like to be alive this long. I also couldn't imagine what it would be like for her to see me, the face of her sister from when she was this age as well. God, that must have been something else for her. So I asked,

"Mugitsu, am I anything like your sister when she was this age? Can you remember?"

"Yes." She answered, simply. "Except you don't treat me different, you treat me like you do all the others; most of the time. It's weird, seeing you like this, because it instantly invokes thoughts of our old sibling rivalry from that time. I keep expecting you to try and trip me, or do something equally stupid, but instead you smile and act polite. Personally, I really hope that you're not the incarnation of Tsumugi from then. I like this version of you much more and we're not related either, so I don't have to restrain myself at all."

I felt her hand slap my butt from behind, provoking a heavy blush and squeak from me. She couldn't do that stuff in public, it was embarrassing!

"Hey!" Azusa snapped from behind me. She grabbed me by the hand and yanked me away from Mugitsu, "You invited Mugi to have a nice dinner and chat, not touch her like that!"

Mugitsu spun around to face her, smiling wickedly, "Are you jealous, small one?"

"No! I'm not, I just don't want you taking advantage of Mugi's good nature!" Azusa replied, not blushing like I was. This was not a position I wanted to be in. I wanted Yui to interject with something silly to get me out of this, but she was just walking alongside us, watching. The one moment I need her head of air!

The older woman rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "If I wanted her that badly, I would just cast a spell to brainwash her and make her my servant forever. That wouldn't be any fun though, because you need to work towards a reward for it to be satisfying; and satisfying _it will be_."

"T-That's very sweet of you, Mugitsu." I nervously took a step back from her. "B-But I don't think I'm interested in… satisfaction…"

Yui air-headed at the wrong moment, "Except if it's with Mio."

"_YUI!" _Both Azusa and I shouted at her.

Mugitsu just eyed us and spoke with much venom. "You mean the Akiyama girl that likes to pretend she can be a mage? Why in Odin's name would Tsumugi want her? I would think you were joking, Hirasawa, but I don't think you're mentally capable of doing such a thing so you must think that Tsumugi is attracted to Akiyama. Just how dense are you? Tsumugi wouldn't want to play around with some prude virgin girl who's about as exciting to talk to as a cardboard box. Now if you said she and Sentinel Juutilainen had a thing, I'd believe that."

"Oh…" Yui blinked, looking really put down, "I guess I was wrong then."

"Can you please be nicer to Yui-chan?" I asked, firmly.

"Huh?" Mugitsu glared at me.

"You keep calling her names and making fun of her! She's one of my best friends, so stop it, it's not nice. Even if she isn't a powerful warrior or mage or scholar, she's still a really good person who looks after others and has a kind heart."

"Bothers you that much?" She raised an eyebrow and started walking towards Yui with small steps. "Very well…" Mugitsu patted a surprised Yui on the shoulder. "…but only because I like your tuxedo. It's sharp."

"Thank you, Mugitsu." Yui gave an awkward bow. She looked a bit relieved.

Ahead of us was what looked to be our destination. Amidst the dirty streets and industrial buildings was an elegant looking, multiple story building. Maybe ten stories high, the front of it was decorated with glowing, animated images of birds flying back and forth between two trees on either side. It was brightly colored, with the green of the trees glowing off our faces. In fancy cursive Latin script, the title glowed, "_La Nourriture Trop Chère_".

"I've never eaten anywhere this fancy." Azusa admitted. "Will you be paying, Mugitsu?"

Our hostess nodded. "In a manner of speaking. Come along you three, and Hirasawa, try not to… wait, never mind, I have to be nice to you."

"Thank you, Mugitsu." I said again.

"You don't have to be nice, just not mean would be okay." Yui told her.

Mugitsu stepped right in front of her and gave her creepily happy smile. "But I want to be nice to Yui-chan. She does all sorts of amazing things, just like you said. Remember that time she had her guard down and I stabbed through the chest? That was really kind of her to enable me like that. Then there was the time she let me cast my death bolt spell on her, oh boy, that was so much fun! Just a couple days ago she flopped in front of Small One and let me hack at her. That really cleared up my bad mood!"

"Stop." I demanded with a completely serious tone.

"Huh." Mugitsu looked over at me, probably surprised by my assertiveness.

"Stop it, I said." I repeated, then crossed my arms. "Bullying her isn't making you any bigger, Mugitsu. The three of understand you could kill us with the flick of your wrist, please don't flaunt that. That will ruin everyone's evening."

She stepped away from Yui, who looked even more put down, and laughed at me. Her laughter just added to my frustration. I wished I could be like the other Tsumugi, then I could teach her a lesson with a swift fist to her… no, no, no, why would I even think something like that?

"You're cute when you're frustrated, Tsumugi. Watch it, I may not be able to control myself." She waved for us to follow her inside. I didn't find Mugitsu's harassment or comments at all flattering. At least she wasn't bringing my breasts into this, like every other person who harassed me had done.

The inside of the _La Nourriture Trop_ was a lot prettier than my current mood. The walls looked like they were carved of polished marble, the color scheme of white and red had been designed perfectly, and the artwork that lined the walls was certainly interesting. Tapestries masterfully depicted Infantry Breakers and other warriors in glorious battle. The smell of food met my nose, and my mouth began to water. Meat ripe with spice was what I smelled, and it made my stomach rumble as well.

"Incredible…" Yui remarked from behind me.

"Truly." Azusa agreed.

We were greeted by a man with posh, ruffled clothes and a twirled mustache. I didn't know people who looked like that actually existed. This was another world though.

"I assume you four have a reservation?" He asked in English, speaking in a heavy French accent. I couldn't help but wonder what those two languages were referred to as here.

Mugitsu nodded, keeping her arms crossed. She spoke in English as well, but her voice was different though, entirely different. I understood her because of the spell, but she sounded like a different person now. Her quick, harsh manner of speaking was now slow, deliberate, and soft.

"Of course, sir. We wouldn't want to waste your time." She answered.

"Your name, ma'am?"

"Mugitsu Mahonoken."

"One moment ma'am." He turned and walked off, probably to go see if her name was on the list.

The four of us stood there, and I could tell how uncomfortable Azusa and Yui were without even looking at them. I had really hoped this night would turn out good, but Mugitsu was intent on being as obnoxious as possible. I kept telling myself that she probably didn't talk to people much, and therefore lacked social skills. With time, she would surely get better.

"Is Mahonoken really your last name?" Azusa asked. I could see why she would question that, since that name sounded like a loose interpretation of the phrase 'spell sword'.

"No, it isn't." Mugitsu answered. "Thankfully, like Tsumugi, Mugitsu isn't a particularly rare name, so I can use it without having to worry about the term 'Death Witch of The Wastes' popping up. My sister and I abandoned our real surname after we were orphaned. I just make up a new one every now and then."

"I guess that makes sense." Azusa shrugged.

That was right, their father had gone off to war a year before and hadn't returned. Wait, how did I know that? It was probably in Azusa's story, just a detail I randomly remembered.

The waiter returned promptly, and said to Mugitsu, "I'm terribly sorry Miss Mahonoken, it seems your name was not on the list there."

"Yes it was." Mugitsu replied with a smile that I didn't like.

There a dazed look over the man's face for a moment. He blinked a few times then quickly shook his head, "Of course, ma'am. You have a table waiting on the fourth floor. Please follow me."

I and my two friends exchanged glances momentarily before following Mugitsu and our server. I got a bad vibe from this, like we were doing something we shouldn't. We were lead to the center of the building, and passed many people eating at their own tables. The food all smelled and looked amazing. The patrons were all dressed quite posh, with all sorts of frill, buttons, and cuffs on their clothes. I saw at least one powdered wig too. The center was strange, there was a small pond of water with a mosaic bottom. The marble mosaic was arranged to create an image of a naked blonde woman splattered with blood, brandishing a blue sword, and standing over a dead… something. What was interesting, was above this pond was a hole in the ceiling where I could just see the next floor. Was this supposed to be like an elevator?

"Step on, madams." Our server told us.

Mugitsu went ahead with no hesitation. I expected her feet to sink into the shallow water, but instead they only touched the surface. It was like she was weightless. She outstretched her hand to me, smiling just a little. I liked this smile more, there wasn't anything cruel about it. I took her hand, and allowed her to help me into the water. I gave a small gasp of surprise when I saw I was standing on the surface of the water too. Azusa was next, stepping next to me, but she didn't seem as surprised as me. Yui looked like she was having fun tapping the water over and over again with the tip of her shoe, then doing small leaps.

"Ready?" Mr. Server asked. For what, I wondered.

"Yes." Mugitsu nodded.

I wasn't at all prepared for what came next. The four of us were lifted up into the air, like we were weightless, and were slowly taken up to the fourth floor of the building. I bit down on my lower lip, and tried not to look utterly terrified as we ascended. My fear of heights kicked in around the third floor and I just wanted off this thing. Thankfully, Azusa noticed that I wasn't enjoying this at all, and kindly held my hand through the ordeal. I felt better with her there, and her comforting smile did wonders to melt my fear away. If Azusa wasn't going to be afraid of this, than neither was I.

Stepping off on the top floor was easily the hardest part. I thought that if I moved at all, I would plummet back down the first floor. Mugitsu and Yui hopped off gracefully, but I was frozen in place. There were people eating up here on this level, and knew a few of them would be glancing at the blonde girl who seemed to be too afraid to move. This was just a bit embarrassing.

"Come on, Mugi, it won't hurt you." Azusa told me with her same comforting smile. "Don't worry, I won't let you fall."

"T-Thank you." I stuttered, and slowly stepped onto stable ground with her.

It was nice up here though. With big windows that provided a good view of the nighttime city, the smell of good foods, and the quiet sound of a nice instrumental tune playing from what could have been a sprite. At least it wasn't metal for once. Maybe this would be the point where our night would start picking up.

"It's nice here." I said to Azusa, still holding her hand. "I hope you're having a good time, Azusa-chan."

"I'm… not hating this." She kept her smile there.

"I can live with that." I decided.

Our server followed up behind us, looking as disinterested as ever. He showed us to our table, a booth against a large window overlooking the street below. Mugitsu took the window seat as I sat next to her, with Yui and Azusa on the other side. On the tables were four menus, and I really hoped this enchantment would allow me to read Varangian. I knew how embarrassing it was, having to point at a menu.

"May I get you ladies anything to drink while you decide?" Our server asked us. Mugitsu and I translated for Yui and Azusa.

Azusa ordered water.

Yui ordered hot tea.

Mugitsu ordered a bottle of something called _Iskalla Trollblod Vin_ for her and me to share. For some reason, I didn't understand that translation, yet I could make out bits of conversation from people at different tables.

"Mugitsu…" Yui spoke up as our server left. "I was thinking a bit, and I decided that I have an offer for you. A contest!"

That certainly got her attention. "A contest, Hirasawa? You understand that I'm immortal, right? As in, I've been around longer than most nations, and have had quite a lot of time to master just about everything."

"I know, I know." Yui seemed confident in herself though. "I have a riddle for you though. You get one guess, and if you get it wrong, you have to stop being mean to me."

"And if I win?" Mugitsu asked.

Yui bit down on her lower lip, then quietly answered, "If Mugitsu wins… she can do whatever she wants with me for a whole night."

Azusa wasn't happy with this. "No, Yui, don't offer yourself like that!"

"Don't worry Azu-nyan, I know what I'm doing!" Yui assured her.

"I like this idea!" Mugitsu happily exclaimed. "I haven't had a pet in a long time, and have forgotten how much fun they are. Yes, Hirasawa, I accept these conditions. I also promise you that you won't be harmed by me if I win… at least physically."

"Good luck, Yui-chan!" I cheered her on.

"Alright…" She began slowly. "Mugitsu, when is cat not a cat?"

Almost robotically, she answered quickly. "When the feline has been subjected to either a polymorph curse or some equal form of enchantment that has altered its form. This is not a riddle, this is a question."

"Nope." Yui's face lit up in a proud smile. The smile was infectious, making Azusa and me grin as well.

"What do you mean _nope_?" Mugitsu growled.

"A cat isn't a cat when it's a kitten!" Yui happily explained.

"But that's not…" It seemed our hostess was frustrated. "You didn't… a cat is still… all you did was…" Mugitsu sighed. "Fine, you win, Hirasawa. I'll be… _polite_ to you from now on. Just… damn it I wanted a human toy!"

What an awfully creepy thing to say.

"Yui-chan's smarter than she lets on." I giggled towards Mugitsu.

"I'm impressed, congratulations." Azusa said to Yui.

Yui just smiled, puffing her chest out in victory.

"Whatever…" Mugitsu scoffed. "At least I can manipulate magic with advance quantum mechanic formulas to travel between nearly unobservable dimensions that exist on one dimensionally oscillating lines, which is accomplished with my complete knowledge on how both quantum fields and general relativity work with each other."

"I once scored 250 points in a Tousenkyo game." I chirped in, since I guess we were talking about accomplishments here.

"250, really? That's amazing Mugi-chan!" Yui gasped.

Azusa looked surprised too, "Wow, I've never scored above 50, that _is_ incredible."

"But that's not…" Mugitsu looked even more frustrated.

I gave her a sympathetic smile and said, "Sorry, Mugitsu, we can't really comment on what is probably an amazing accomplishment on your part if we can't relate to it. It would be like me bragging about how I once made a popsicle out of _Dr. Pepper_ since none of you would know what that meant."

"I guess…" She pouted. "Say, everyone calls you Mugi-chan, right, Tsumugi?"

"Mhm." I nodded. "You can too."

"No, it wouldn't feel right. Mugi-chan used to be my nickname, mostly from my sister." She leaned back a bit, then sighed. "Do the three of you know what it is like meeting someone who looks and behaves almost exactly like someone you know who died? It's like staring into the face of a ghost. I originally thought that some being had brought my sister back from the dead, but with a bit of research in the last two days, I found that to be impossible. When a divine being dies, as you should all know, their essence is transformed into sprites and not even the power of a god can undo that. Could it just a coincidence that this Tsumugi is exactly like my sister? But how far does it go before it can no longer be just a coincidence?"

"I don't think the three of us know." I told her.

"I know, I know…" She sighed. "Seeing you makes me wish I had my sister again, or at least go back to the time when her and I were still young. Back before she became a stuck up little bitch whose self-importance was so inflated that it made you wonder just how she contained it all in one body."

"It's a good thing Mugi-chan isn't like that then." Yui pointed out, I appreciated her saying that.

Mugitsu smiled, "You're right, Hirasawa. You two are lucky to count her a friend, I am jealous."

Our drinks came, and Mugitsu poured the _Iskalla Trollblod Vin _into a wine glass for me. I thanked her, then held the glass up.

"Can I propose a toast to someone?" I asked, feeling a bit silly.

"Of course, Mugi." Azusa replied. "To who?"

"Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen." I replied. "I know I was told that she would be back some time, but I still feel awful for what happened. Even if she was all sorts of rude to me, I still have a lot of fond memories with her."

"To Eila then." Yui raised her cup of tea as well.

"To Juutilainen." Azusa did the same.

"You can't keep a good Sentinel down." Mugitsu chuckled, and joined in.

As my friends looked through their menus, I closed my eyes and thought back to times with Eila…

_ "Listen newcomer. I don't care who you are, but Sanya is the piano player around here, so you can just sit down and enjoy her music like everyone else .Oh, I see you eying this. Listen sister, I've gut people for lesser things before. So I suggest you leave, because I'm sure you don't want to lose blood over a piano."_

_ "Don't be stupid, everyone knows that ritual animal sacrifice provides good harvests, not the sun!"_

_ "Are you trying to find ways to be useless, or does it just come natural?"_

_ "Shine my boots."_

_ "One morning our heroine Juutilainen was eating breakfast when all of a sudden a cunning temptress named Tsumugi gave her a cursed amulet and ruined her day."_

Things were quiet with her gone…

I sipped my drink and winced at the taste. It was extremely coppery, cold, had the sting of alcohol, and had a taste that made me think of grapes. I sipped it again, and found it wasn't _too_ bad. I would have preferred water though. Mugitsu was already on her second glass.

"Are any of you wine drinkers?" She asked us between sips of her drink. That explained what this was though, wine.

"I'm fifteen." Azusa reminded her.

"Drinking's not really okay for Sentinels." Yui replied.

"Psh, plenty of younger Varangians drink!" Mugitsu scoffed at Azusa. "_Iskalla Trollblod Vin _really takes me back though. When I was studying under the archmage academy while balancing my Valkyrie duties, I used to get so stressed out. Turned out a glass of this stuff and two, three shots of vodka for breakfast really took the edge off work. The best part about being a mage is that I could get piss drunk all the time and just cast a spell to make me sober whenever a god or other Valkyrie needed to talk to me. But in all seriousness, I do feel bad about drinking here since it was just a bad habit for me way back then. Drove my sister all kinds of insane."

"It means she cared about you, right?" I asked, trying to make light of what she had said.

She shrugged. "Was it me or was it my actions that she was worried about? Trust me, she wouldn't have given a damn if my liver dissolved, she just cared about me being quiet."

"It's a good thing Mugi-chan isn't like that." Yui repeated.

"Yes. Yes it is." I agreed. "The moment I start worrying more about someone's behavior than their health is the moment I need to reevaluate my life."

"I think I'll have the six-armed-death-beast steak with the hydra venom sauce." Azusa muttered as she leafed through her menu.

"In that cased, I'll have the roasted tarrasque finger with the yellow rice." Yui decided.

Azusa just glared at her, "Do you have any idea how many adventures probably died so that meal can be made?"

"But Azu-nyan, if I don't eat it, then their sacrifice will have been in vain!"

I looked through my dinner options and found them to be… _horrifying._ Demon bat ribs, werehippopotamus fetus stew, griffon egg omelet, or a Big Mac with cheese. Was there anything made from normal animals here? On the last page, I saw something that looked tolerable.

"I think I'll have the chef salad." I said.

"I'm having the Piquerism Platter, since I've gotten off to piquerism more than once." Mugitsu told us. I think she said that for no other reason than to scare me. That made her previous sexual comments towards me go from making me uncomfortable to flat out frightened. She saw just how creeped out the three of us were by that comment and laughed. "I'm just kidding! I'm getting this because it's just country fried steak with mashed potatoes! It's called this because a famous serial killer who engaged in piquerism used to leave dishes like this at the scene of the crime."

Yui raised her hand, "What's piquerism?"

"I'm glad you asked, Yui-chan!" Mugitsu smiled, now seeming a bit tipsy. "Piquerism is the glorious sadomasochistic act of shoving pointy objects into the vagina, anus, or breasts of your victim!"

I shut my eyes and threw my hands over them. At least a dozen people had probably heard her shout that. If just one of them spoke Japanese…

Our waiter returned, thankfully, before things could get even _more_ awkward. Mugitsu and I gave him our orders, which would be ready into 30 to 45 minutes. I could hardly wait, I was starving, and a nice salad sounded absolutely wonderful. Mugitsu just kept on drinking, even if I was still on my first glass. Yui and Azusa were actually having a nice conversation about pets they had both each owned, and the atmosphere around us was a lot calmer. Then _of course_ the sounds of metal music greeted my ears. It was _Necrophobic_ by _Slayer. _What was odd, while I recognized the song since Sawako had liked the album, I had never known its name.

"Quick question." I said, directing the attention of my friends towards me. "These, uh, metal sprites… do they somehow give you the information on the song that they are playing? Because I know this is _Necrophobic _but I didn't know that. Same with every other song I've heard while I've been here."

Azusa nodded, "That's exactly what they do. Nearly all sprites try to manifest or make themselves known in some way. Music sprites do this by giving you the information about the songs they play."

"Ohhh, that makes sense now, thank you!" I thanked her, then commented. "Back in my world, people hailed _Slayer _as the greatest metal band ever. Quite frankly, I'm disappointed from what I've heard of them. Disappointed enough to say that I don't really like them."

"You don't like _Slayer_?" Mugitsu eyed curiously. "Whether or not you like metal, _everyone_ likes _Slayer_. They're, like, the perfect thrash band. What about them could you not like?"

I took a deep breath and began.

"Let me begin by saying that I've only listened to two of their albums but once while borrowing them from a friend. In my world, albums are the method you use to listen to music in place of sprites. My friend, Sawako-chan, was a major fan of theirs and strongly suggested I listen to them. _Reign In Blood_ is cited to be their greatest accomplishment mostly due to the fact that it houses their hit _Raining Blood_. However, while that song definitely has some catchy, dare I say _brutal_ riffs, the rest of the album seems to just be one giant song that blurs all the way to the end. Granted, I don't speak the language they were singing in, so I could not understand the lyrics, but I doubt even the lyrical subject could have saved those songs. In my opinion, they were rather boring and felt like the band was doing nothing but trying to play their instruments in the fastest manner possible. It also doesn't help that their singer sings in exactly one pitch throughout the entire album, making him sing in what sounds like an angry, fast, monotone. What few parts of _Reign In Blood_ I liked were scattered throughout the tedium of tremolo picked flurries and obnoxiously fast drum beats that didn't feel like they had any substance. It feels like _Slayer_ stepped into the studio with two songs written, played those, and just played a jam session for 25 minutes then released that. Despite the fact that metal is supposed to be about playing fast and brutal, it seemed like everything I liked about _Slayer_ was found in their slower songs, namely on their later album, _Seasons in the Abyss_. Now, they're certainly not a _bad_ band by any means, I just didn't find them at all enjoyable."

"You could be a music scholar here…" Mugitsu said in amazement at my little tangent.

"Mugi didn't really seem like the metal listening type." Azusa commented.

"I only like metal acts that have nine members whose outfits have the numbers zero through nine on them." Yui adamantly claimed.

"This wine is good stuff." Mugitsu poured herself another glass. I didn't know what glass she was on, but half the bottle looked half-full (I'm an optimist). "I remember hearing stories about how noble girls would sleep with men then drink this stuff afterwards to keep their virginity until marriage. It's made from troll's blood, which has regenerative properties, and grows back a certain membrane of skin. There's a lot you can do with that actually."

"Huh." I covertly looked down between my legs. Had I lost _that_ while horseback riding before? I didn't check because it was unlady like. At least if I did, then it was back now. "That could be useful, I suppose, if you were scandalous."

Mugitsu laughed to herself. "Plus, lying and telling people you're a virgin before laying with them is a good way to gain political influence if done right. Of course, I would never demean myself like that."

"Of course." Azusa repeated with a hint of sarcasm.

Mugitsu dreamily sighed, almost at random. "Look at me though. Piss drunk and hanging out with kids that are probably a hundredth of my age. The Death Witch of The Wastes, reduced to this! At least you're all cute, except for Yui-chan, but she has a tuxedo. Tsumugi is the cutest though, probably cuter than my sister." I felt her hand rest on my thigh, and her finger began tracing circles on it. "She's _not_ my sister though, right? So there's nothing wrong if she gives little lonely me a bit of… _company_."

"M-Mugitsu, I think you've had enough to d-drink." I tried to sound pleasant as I reached to confiscate that bottle. She yanked at my outstretched arm and pulled me into some kind of awkward hug. My face was pressed into her breasts. This was not a fun position to be in.

"Tsumugi, Tsumugi, Tsumugi…" She cooed and stroked my hair. I could only imagine the reactions of Azusa and Yui towards this. "I think you're cute, but I think have to decline your offer. This is good wine, and you can never have enough. Don't worry about me, because there's troll blood in this, so there is no harm to my liver. Why are you pressing your face against my breasts? We're in public, wait until we're alone if you want to feel them that bad."

She was misinterpreting everything I was saying. Luckily, I managed to weasel away from her grasp and sit back up normally. My face was red from blushing, and I could tell Azusa hadn't enjoyed watching that.

"Mugitsu…" I said, "I think you're very sweet, but I'm not looking for a relationship."

"Neither am I." She smiled, her finger still tracing those circles. Her hand was moving further up my leg now, to a spot I'd rather it would stay clear of.

"No, I mean, I don't want to…" I tried to think of a nice way to put this. "…Please understand, I'm chaste."

"Oh." She blinked. I could have sworn I heard Azusa sigh in relief. "That makes sense… given your personality. Well, a reward is more satisfying when I have to work for it." Her hand let go of me. "Maybe we should still be enemies, an intense rivalry leading to a hot, passionate climax. I like that idea, I like it a lot."

"I'd prefer if we were just friends." I smiled, speaking through my teeth. I was about as uncomfortable as uncomfortable could get.

"For now at least." Mugitsu smiled again. "Oh would you look at that. Our food is here!"

And it was the best salad I ever had. There were refills on our drinks. I had water, like Azusa, since I didn't want to get drunk like Mugitsu. It was funny how alcohol had turned her from a scary sociopathic mage into a lust driven cougar. So far there was no happy medium for her. We ate, chatted a bit about random things. When it was time to go, we followed Mugitsu out. We just sort of, well, _left_. She didn't wait for the bill or tip or anything.

When we were on the road, I whispered to Azusa, "Azusa-chan, did we… did we just dine and dash?"

"I think we did…" She said in grim realization. "Also, I don't think we had a reservation either."

That night we lied our way into the city, lied our way into the restaurant, then skipped out on the bill. I felt awful, I just knew my mother would be ashamed if she knew I was doing stuff like this. I wondered if Mugitsu's mother would be ashamed if she knew what her daughter was doing as of late. She'd probably be proud of her near god-like magic power, since her mother had been a mage as well. Wait, I didn't know that, why would I think that?

Despite how it must have been rather late, there were still people all over the streets. Nearly all of them were blonde, blue eyed, and rather tall.

"I'll teleport us back, we'll go our separate ways, and we'll see what happens to Sakuragyfli afterwards." Mugitsu told us as we walked back towards the gates. "I… had a lovely time, thanks, all three of you. I mean, you all went with me despite the fact that you doing so must have been hard for you. I've done a lot of horrible things, not many of which I regret, but still."

I took her by the hand, and smiled. "We had a lovely time as well, Mugitsu. Didn't we?"

"…Sure…" Azusa muttered.

"That meal was delicious!" Yui swooned.

Close enough.

I continued, "I think you're not a bad person, Mugitsu. A little scary, but if you socialized more, you could be quite a good friend."

A smile lit up on her face at that. It felt good to see. It felt good to know that I was possibly easing Mugitsu out of her life of evilness. That almost made up for the numerous crimes we'd committed that night. The four of us walked through the glowing city, under the black sky, and I couldn't help but wonder what this meant for Sakuragyfli. Did this mean that she wasn't going to wage war? Had we saved the day with diplomacy?

"Mugi-chan!" A familiar voice called out from a crowd. I was more than surprised to see who it was.

"Ricchan!" I called out, and she ran towards us. She was in her leather armor outfit, with her longbow on her back.

"Thank every last god I caught you here, Mugi-chan." Ritsu huffed as she caught up to us. "Oh yeah, hi Hirasawa, Nakano and… Mugitsu… Anyway, can you not go back to Sakuragyfli right away?"

"Why, is something wrong?" I asked, naturally.

She nodded. "Yeah, big things are wrong here. I, uh, kind of screwed up with some things and may need your help. I'll pay for your room at a hotel and everything. It's about Freyr, he's a little bit mad at me right now. The last thing you want to do is upset the god of fertility, because there's no end to the punishments he can inflict with using your reproductive system against you."

"That sounds frightening!" I gasped. "Of course I'll help Ricchan. What do you need me for?"

"I'll explain later." She replied. "I'll let you rest up maybe, go shopping with some of my money. I don't want to throw you into this mess right away."

"I see, thank you." I turned to my other friends. "Will you three be alright without me?"

Azusa stepped next to me. "Can I stay here with you? Is that all right, Ritsu?"

Ritsu shrugged. "I don't have a problem with it, as long as you don't cause any trouble."

"Thank you, I won't." Azusa bowed.

Yui stepped over to us too. "I'm going where Azu-nyan and Mugi-chan go!"

Mugitsu nodded, arms crossed. "Alright, saves me time getting home since I don't have to drop you three off. Thank you again, everyone. Tsumugi, grant me one favor before I leave?"

"What is it?" I stepped over to her.

"This." Mugitsu pulled me into her arms and kissed me goodbye. It wasn't just a peck on the lips either. Her tongue forced its way into my mouth as I squeaked in surprise from how sudden and forceful this was. I couldn't bring myself to return this kiss, because I felt wrong for being a part of it. I felt _beyond_ wrong, this felt more like the kiss equivalent of rape. She tasted like that wine, mixed with the overpowering taste of magic, except far and beyond what I had experienced with Mio's kisses. This time it was so strong it made my eyes water. When she broke it off finally, I fell backwards, but thankfully Ritsu and Azusa were there to catch me. I was shaking all over, with tears rolling down my cheeks. She had gone way too far with that.

"See you around." She smiled, and turned to walk away. Azusa shouted at her, I couldn't hear what she was saying though.

I wanted to stay faithful to Mio, I really did. What would she do when she learned that I had done something like this? It wasn't my fault, but I still felt wholly guilty about it. This whole night has been a disaster, and I felt even worse for dragging Azusa and Yui along through it too.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Author's Notes Included Of Course: **__Once again, I am conscious of reviews and this chapter was mostly in response to people wanting to see more of Mugitsu. I hoped she managed to live up to the sort of hype I slowly built around her. I've spent a lot of time working out her character, along with the character of her dead sister. They'll both be major parts of this story later on, and I think you'll all like how it plays out._

_On a different note, I'm getting my own laptop again very soon which allows for unlimited writing access. Up until this point I've been destroying my sleep schedule to work on this every morning past midnight after my brother goes to bed so I can use his laptop. I'm also introducing a set of song quotes before each chapter. I've seen other authors do it, and I like that idea. Also, for people who reaallyyy dislike this Mugi/Mio set up: Don't give up on this story just yet. I won't spoil anything, but… well, have faith in me._

_Then on a totally random off topic note, I made Mugi in _Rockband 3_ for keyboard (captured her likeliness quite well) with Eila as a guitar stand-in and the game got about 150% more awesome. Seeing Mugi happily play and dance along on stage to the song _Antibodies. _The only thing that ruined that moment was how damned hard _Antibodies _is on expert keys. Just felt like sharing. _


	16. Defender Of The Cute

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 16**

**DEFENDER OF THE CUTE**

"_Seest thou, maiden, this keen, bright sword  
>That I hold here in my hand?<br>Before its blade the old giant bends,—  
>Thy father is doomed to die.<br>I strike thee, maid, with my __gambanteinn__,  
>To tame thee to work my will;<br>There shalt thou go where never again  
>The sons of men shall see thee."<em>

~Skirnir to Geror in _Skírnismál, _stanzas 25 and 26

The awkwardness of having to walk to a hotel with my three friends after Mugitsu had forcefully shoved her tongue into my mouth was nearly unbearable. We walked, and I listened to forced idle chatter between Yui and Ritsu about things I could tell neither of them were interested in. Politics mostly, they were just trying to avoid the elephant in the room here. Azusa, on the other hand, was a bit more understanding towards me. She held my hand as we walked. It was such a simple gesture, but to me, it meant the world.

Sleep didn't come easy; I was tossing and turning in my bed the whole night. My dreams were a mix of strange images of foreign landscapes that invoked a strange feeling of nostalgia. I also dreamed that I heard verses of poetry. They weren't unlike _Dante's Inferno_ or the _Poetic Edda_. I had read a few snippets of both, and found that my English was far too weak to understand any of it. These ones in my dreams were in Varangian, but my mind was easily able to translate them into Japanese. This enchantment Mugitsu had given me was endlessly useful. If I went back to Japan with it, I could probably become a self-made billionaire with my translating skills.

What I wanted to know, though, was what was wrong with my dreams. These landscapes, bursts of emotion, and snippets of poetry were so unlike anything I had ever seen or felt. Was it because I was losing my mind here? Or was there some kind of force like a sprite trying to rub its influence off on me? Either way, it hounded my sleep and left me tired and weary when I woke the next morning. Morning was relative here, since the sky hadn't changed at all. Lutvjarg was massive, at least a hundred thousand people, and it made me wonder how anyone could exist without seeing the sun, stars, or moon.

We ate a breakfast of Kornmjölsgröt and Osyrat Kornbröd at the inn. Kornmjölsgröt was a sort of porridge sweetened with honey, hazelnuts, and butter. To eat it, I had to use some sort of flat spoon with was needlessly tedious to work with. Despite that minor complaint, it was quite good, and filling. It went well with the Osyrat Kornbröd, which was a type of flat bread.

Ritsu happily told us that she had managed to get quite a bit of money before coming to Lutvjarg. She said that she would go and get Yui and Azusa something else to wear since walking around in party dresses and tuxedos was impractical. I was stuck with the kimono though, because it looked nice on me. Beyond clothes, she also said she would give me a bit of money to get something for myself, or even Mio. I heartily thanked her, however I couldn't help but wonder what she needed my help with. When people started to shower you with gifts and money before asking your help for something, it probably meant that it wasn't anything good.

Before we left, Ritsu pulled me aside into the room she had slept in to talk to me privately. She looked dead serious.

"Okay, Mugi-chan, I need to know about what I saw last night. You, Mugitsu, that thing you two were doing. If Mio-chan hears about that, she's going to be heartbroken." She said as if this wasn't already something I was painfully aware of.

"It wasn't my fault…" I sighed, gazing at my feet, watching my toes wiggles at the edge of wooden sandals. "I didn't want her to do that, Ricchan, I really didn't. She tasted _vile_, but I was too afraid to resist. She's scary Ricchan, and I don't think I could stop her from doing whatever she wants… but…"

I paused for a moment, trying to think of how to finish that.

"But what?" Ritsu asked. She didn't seem pleased with me. "Don't tell me you want to be friends with her or something."

I closed my eyes and nodded. "I think, maybe she is a good person, Ricchan. She just needs a friend to show her the way. Even if you don't agree with that, you'll agree with me that it's better than fighting her."

I opened my eyes and saw her shake her head. "No, Mugi, I'd rather just kill her and see her done with. Keep in mind that the people in the militia, they're like brothers and sisters to me in battle. You don't know the things Mugitsu has done to us in the past, or what she did in the Fifty Skirmish War. Her title as the Death Witch is greatly deserved, and you should be thankful that the three of you got through last night without anything more than her molesting you."

"But-"

"No, Mugi, I don't want to talk about this." She stepped past me, walking out of the room. "We won't tell Mio, alright?"

"R-Right…" I muttered, following her. I wished that she would just listen to me. I didn't see an evil witch in Mugitsu, I saw a lonely girl just wanting some company. For all we knew, shunned for as long as she had been would drive anyone crazy. It didn't have to be that way.

**OUT IN LUTVJARG**

Azusa was quick to tell Ritsu about how none of us really needed new clothes. She had her and Yui's clothes in her portable hole. They changed, with Yui in her normal yukata and Azusa in a white linen dress. I think Azusa looked pretty that way, even if that dress was probably tailored for someone with my curvy curves. For whatever reason, she decided to walk barefoot.

"Like, I said, get your self anything with this." Ritsu reinforced her offer, gesturing towards the little pouch of money she had given me.

"I will. Thank you." I replied. My biggest problem was how I had absolutely no standard to base their currency off of. I had thirty gold pieces, which meant nothing to me. So, for now, we walked through the commercial district down a street full of people. I tried to look for shops that interested me, or had things I actually wanted.

It took most of the morning, but I managed to find a good tea shop that was well stocked in many flavors and flavor enhancers. For five gold pieces, I was able to get a tea set, some ginseng and raspberry tea, and some sugar and honey to sweeten both. I would show the ignorant masses of Midgard how tea was _really_ made.

Ritsu was leading the way. I told her that this was all I needed, so I put the tea stuff in Azusa's handy magical hole and we set off to… somewhere. As we left this district, there was one last shop that caught my attention. A place I simply could not pass up a chance to visit.

"A toy store, Mugi, really?" Ritsu said in disbelief as I happily strode over to the cheerfully decorated little store. Through the wide windows, I could see all sorts of stuffed animals, dolls, and things meant for girls half my age. After the stupid risks I had taken here in this awful world, I felt entitled to a teddy bear or two.

"Yes, _really_." I shot her a glare before skipping inside with a smile on my face. Ritsu waited outside, but Azusa and Yui followed me on in.

A woman standing behind the counter greeted us, or me, in Varangian. She looked well into her adult years, with the standard blue eyes, blonde hair, and big boobs combo every single woman in this country was rocking. And in Japan, I felt unique for having those attributes.

"Good morning, friend." She pleasantly greeted me. "You are here to purchase something for your child, no?"

_Oh come on, I can't look THAT old._

"N-No, I'm looking for something for me." I corrected, now feeling a little silly.

"Ahh, great to see a woman whose childish spirit has not been cruelly torn from her! Please, ask if you need anything."

"Thank you, I will." I told her then went to look around. All I knew was that I wanted something fluffy, cute, and huggable. Kind of like Mio, in a way. This store reminded me of the one I had bought that song book from, to the point where I felt a bit of nostalgia.

Yui stood next to me, looking over a section of toy swords, and said, "You know, Mugi-chan, I think you're the first warrior I've ever met that enjoys cute things."

"Oh please, I'm not a warrior." I modestly dismissed her. A large, fluffy white rabbit caught my attention, and I strode on over to it as if hypnotized by its cuteness.

"Sure you are!" Yui followed me, her voice chirpy and happy. "You're Mugi-chan, Defender of the Cute!"

I stopped where I was. What she just said was amazing, even inspirational. All this time I had associated the word warrior with 'death', 'murder, 'war', and 'mercenary rapist', but _Defender of the Cute_ was a whole different thing. I got to my hands and knees and bowed before Yui-sama.

"Thank you." I said, grateful for the wisdom she had bestowed upon me!

"Um, you're welcome." Yui blinked, and then looked over at Azusa who was standing by the door. "Look, Mugi-chan is thanking me!"

"Yes, I see." Azusa deadpanned.

I stood up, and took Sword-chan off my back. I don't remember putting her there, but there she was. I held the beautiful, but heavy blade up with one hand, accidently poking the ceiling. Eyes were on me, confused, but I was doing something here.

"Ahem," I began. "From this day on, I shall be known as Mugi-chan: Defender of the Cute! Whenever something small and cuddly is in danger, I will be there with my magical, enchanted god sword! If someone pushes around small animals, I will be there! If Azusa-chan trips and scrapes her knee, I will be there with bandages and kisses to her injures! With tea, cakes, and hugs, I accept my duty! _HUZZAH!_"

There was a round of applause from the three in the building there.

"Go Mugi-chan!" Yui cheered.

"I'll try to get hurt more often then." Azusa smiled.

"Um, were you going to buy something?" Miss Store Lady asked.

"Oh, right, I was." I quickly grabbed that cute stuffed rabbit and went to pay for it. It was supposed to be ten copper pieces, but all I had was gold so I had to pay with that. The lady didn't seem to mind, in fact, she seemed happy to be paid with the wrong currency. I had forgotten the exchange rate for these metals, and I hope that this was enough.  
>As we walked out, Azusa commented. "You really <em>do<em> like cute things. You gave her a thousand percent tip."

I smiled. "I made her day wonderful then."

Ritsu smiled at us from the other side of the street. "That's what you got? It's cute, I like it. Anyway, hope you guys are in the mood for a hike bec-"

She was cut off as little girl ran into her. They collided and both went sprawling on the cobblestone. That child looked half my age, and clearly Varangian with blonde etc., etc., etc. Her clothes were tattered though, like she was living on the street or something. That and she was quite filthy, I felt the need to give her a good wash and make over. Maybe that was my maternal clock subconsciously ringing inside. On the outside though, I didn't want to be a mommy at all.

"Owie…" Ritsu groaned, and sat up. She looked over at that little girl and said, "Wanna be a little more careful next time?"

She sounded more surprised than upset.

"S-S-Sorry…" The child replied in Varangian, looking at Ritsu with scared eyes.

Ritsu gave a small smile, and told her in awkward, broken Varangian, "_Careful be next time, am not mad._"

"Where were you going in such a hurry?" I asked her, and outstretched my hand to help her to her feet.

"P-People stole m-my money, and I ran away because I th-thought they would hurt me too." She replied in a shaky voice. "I'm sorry I tripped you, miss."

"_Fine_." Ritsu told her.

"How awful!" I gasped. "Can you tell your parents about this? I'm sure they will understand and help you. That's what parents are for."

"I'm an orphan." She sniffled.

_Of course she is. Wow, I am REALLY not helping this situation. Okay, I can fix this. I can fix this real good!_

I took the rest of my money and held it out to her. "Here."

"W-Wha'?" The little girl stared at the little burlap bag in confusion.

"For you. I don't need it." I told her, smiling as kindly as I could. I also passed on that stuffed rabbit I had bought to her as well. "This is Fuyu-chan, she's all yours too."

The child looked at me in complete disbelief with the gifts in her arms. I saw tears in her eyes, and my heart swelled with a good feeling. She sniffled once, "W-Why are you giving me all th-this?"

I smiled and turned around dramatically. "Because I'm Mugi-chan: Defender of the Cute!"

"_Moogy...chon_…" She repeated slowly. "My name is Inkeri. Thank you, Moogichon. You are truly a goddess."

She curtsied then quickly ran off, like she was afraid I would change my mind. Ritsu put a hand on my shoulder, and happily sighed. "Mugi-chan: philanthropist extraordinaire. I didn't expect you to give your money away to some street urchin, but… it makes me feel great that I gave it to you. Come on, you three; let me tell you what's up." She motioned for us to follow, east, towards the gates of Lutvjarg it seemed. "Hey, Mugi, remember how when you first met me, I said I didn't know what 'Ricchan' meant?"

I thought back for a moment…

_"Why do you call her Ricchan though?"_

That was right, she hadn't gone by that nickname when I met her. "Yes, I remember that."

"Also, remember how afterwards, in Sakuragyfli, other people called me Ricchan. I also asked what a piano was, and commented about one later that night at Ui's Place. My mission to _Jotunheimr _was also different than what I told you, especially the conditions with Freyr and that giantess. Basically, I lied to you when we first met, about everything. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." I answered right away. "I was a stranger in a dangerous land; you had no reason to trust me."

"Hey, that reminds me…" Azusa spoke up, "You lied about Mugi when we first met too. Took all the credit for what she did!"

"And then let her have Mio, the girl I love." Ritsu quickly countered, pretty much brushing her off. "Anyway, Mugi, I'm sorry, I really am. I was hoping that this little outing would make things up a bit for what I have to ask of you next. I don't deserve it from you, I know that, but I know you're the nicest damn person in Midgard, so you'll help me."

"Sure, just tell me what it is." I smiled as we walked along.

"Let's get out of Lutvjarg, beyond prying ears… and…" Ritsu stopped, and then threw herself at me. I was startled at first, but realized she was going in for a hug. I giggled as she squeezed me tight with her strong, tomboyish arms. "…just, thank you for everything. They say the right person at the wrong time makes all the difference, and that fits you perfectly."

"T-Thanks." I said at her sudden outburst.

**LUTVARANGIAN WASTES**

Outside of Lutvjarg, the sky was still black for miles around, but in the distance I could see it became a cloudy overcast. To the north, I saw what looked to be a large mountain not too far, with smaller ones surrounding us in every other direction. The ground was horribly uneven, with a few roads cutting through the rocky wastes that seemed to go on endlessly. Snow littered the ground, covering the rocks and sporadic dead trees and shrubs everywhere. Despite the black sky, the landscape was lit enough to see where we were going during the day. Magic was a wondrous thing.

The sounds of Ritsu's boots falling on the hard ground were much more pronounced out here in the quiet of the wilderness. We left the city behind us, following her. All questions were immediately dismissed, for she wanted us to be in private.

"Ritsu isn't my real name." She began in a low voice. "It's Skirnir, my brother and I are servants of Freyr, sometimes I work as a messenger of the gods. I really love the name Ritsu though, and I like how when people hear it they don't associate me with the gods. It lets me lead a normal life and have the amazing friends that I do. There's more though, more that I'm not sure you'll like. I knew who you were soon after I met you. Tsumugi and Mugitsu are both names I know well, since I know their story truly. I thought you could have actually been the reincarnation of that old blonde Valkyrie, and feigned ignorance about my own abilities so I could see yours. You clearly weren't her, but you were special, something so much better I think."

"That's sweet of you to say." I remarked, "I'm not happy about being lied to, but I guess you had your reasons. I can't complain, you've done a lot for me."

"There's more." She went one. "I intentionally used false names and titles for places to see if you would correct me or react. You didn't, which made me believe you really were from another world. Do you remember why I went to _Jotunheimr _in the first place?"

"To woo a girl for Freyr, right?"

Ritsu nodded. "Yeah, that. Well I succeeded. Geror was her name, and I used a _gambanteinn, _a sort of magic wand, to pretty much force her into going with him. Freyr gave me his sword and his magical steed for the journey. I was going to give them to Geror, but I decided threatening her with magic was easier. Turns out, she wants the sword after all and won't go with Freyr until she gets it. He's kinda, uh, mad about this. Freyr's also the god of fertility, and can punish me in all sorts of creative manners involving my reproductive system."

"I… have to give up Sword-chan?" I felt my heart sink at that thought. She wasn't just a sword to me anymore, she was a friend. A friend who was really good at solving my problems. Without her, I would actually run the risk of being killed.

"Wait…" Azusa moved right up to us. "…You're saying that Mugi has to give up her enchanted sword? Ritsu, you can't do that, it's pretty much her only possession! That's selfish of you!"

"How will Mugi-chan fight without Sword-chan?" Yui asked the most painful question.

"I don't know…" Ritsu muttered. "It wasn't yours to begin with though, Mugi. I'm sorry, I really am, I'm so sorry that I have to remove you, this amazing warrior, from our battles, but I can't say no to this. That _is_ Freyr's sword, the one meant to slay the Sons of Muspell, he gets the final say, and he wants it to go to Geror. Please, try to understand."

"I… I understand." I sniffled once, feeling a tear slip down my cheek. This was sad, crying over losing something that wasn't mine from the start. "Are we going somewhere to give Sword-chan away now?"

Ritsu nodded, and pointed north. "Over there, to Mount Kval. It'll take us a day and a half, but time will fly since we're all friends!"

Azusa didn't look thrilled. "A day and a half journey to get rid of Mugi's _one_ advantage over everything else? This sounds horrible."

"I can't defend the cute without Sword-chan, I can't defend anyone…" I whimpered, and mentally freed my blade from my back. She hovered there in front of me, shining so beautifully. I could only hope her next owner treated her just as nice.

"That's why I'm here!" Yui threw her arm around my shoulder. "I can teach you to fight, and a masamune is a great weapon to have! You're a super fast learner with plenty of compassion and drive, so you won't need that silly magical flying sword at all."

"Y-You really think so?" I asked her, sniffling one last time.

"Of course, you're already better than I was when I first started training." Yui giggled, and then added, "Then again, I was _terrible_ when I first started."

Ritsu patted me on the back, and then threw her arm around my other shoulder. "Yeah, give yourself more credit, Mugi. Mount Kval, where Geror is waiting, is full of all kinds of horrible monsters too. You'll definitely get the opportunity to cruelly rip the life from another being's body!"

"T-Thanks." I forced a smile. She wasn't really getting the point.

So the three of us walked on through the desolate, icy, snowy, and rocky wastes that surrounded Lutvjarg with this mountain in mind for our destination. With Sword-chan soon to be gone, I decided I would need to take training with Yui more seriously. But now, I would actually be actively participating in fights instead of just watching my sword do all the work.

_The frost giant quivered in fear as the Mugi: Divine Paladin Super Defender of the Cute slowly stepped towards it with her shining blade in hand. There wasn't any time for the massive creature to react before our heroine performed a four meter vertical leap and rammed the tip of her blade into its eye. Red blood splattered the beautiful warrior while she rode the giant down as it collapsed from its injury. Ten down, four to go, and not even a scratch on her!_

Wait… not, what would probably happen would actually be like…

_The frost giant laughed in anticipation as Tsumugi, the girl who really shouldn't have been there, awkwardly made a final charge with her dull, unmaintained sword. Her attack was too slow, and the giant had a massive window of opportunity to strike with his massive great axe. The axe head cleaved through the would-be warrior with ease like she was made of butter. Without armor, she was defenseless against it, and was too in shock to even scream as her torso was cut open and most of her guts revealed. Blood splattered all over the white snow below her as she fell back, clutching her intestines. Ever sadistic, the giant laughed in triumph, and drew his carving knife to…_

My hands began shaking at that more realistic imagining of a fight with frost giants. I still had that wand of fiery explosions, but I knew that would only get me so far, and wouldn't work in close quarters. I needed Sword-chan so I didn't get disemboweled and end up dying in horrible, horrible agony. It looked like I would have hang up the metaphorical shield and just try to make an honest living in this world. That translating job idea still seemed good, assuming I could write in all these languages too.

Breaking me from my thoughts, I heard Azusa whistling some tune. I instantly recognized it, but I couldn't place the name or origin. Without even thinking, I recited the words to it. It wasn't a song, but a poem…

"Upon blackened earth and body strewn grounds

A young skald with his harp did play

He sang his songs amongst the dead

Waiting for the one with the blade

The blade that was blue as sky."

"You know that ballad?" Azusa asked in surprise. "Who recited it to you? It's not a common one at all!"

"I don't know…" I realized how stupid that sounded. "It just, popped into my head I guess. I guess I heard it before or something. Those are the only parts I know, how's the rest go?"

"I only know the first verse." She admitted. "It's a variation of a Tsumugi-Mugitsu legend, or at least that's what some people think. It tells of a man who watched that Tsumugi fight with a shimmering, blue sword that looked to be made of ice. He followed her and her companion across the world trying to ask about it because it was such an anomaly."

"Mugitsu made the sword, to help her sister better combat demons and mages." I blurted out at random.

"Did she tell you that?" Azusa asked with curiosity in her eyes.

"I, uh, I mean… yeah, yeah she did. Mugitsu told me." I lied. Mugitsu had never said a word about any blue swords to me. Yet here I was thinking this, and knowing it was true. I _knew_ she made that sword because of what they were fighting against. I just knew it.

"Hmm, I should ask her for the whole poem then." Azusa remarked. I was a little bit glad that she seemed to be warming up to Mugitsu, a little bit at least.

**A STORM BREWING**

We walked and… there were people around us now. It seemed that we were walking through a tent city, with people bustling about for some reason. Most of them were moving crates and barrels from place to place. The majority of those containers were labeled as various beverages like mead, wine, ale, and beer. I wondered if mead was any good, since I heard it had tasted like honey and I liked honey quite a bit. What was going on though? The camp we were walking through was huge, like the kind of tent city we saw at that music festival in the summer. I could see some woman in black, scantily clad Infantry Breaker armor, shouting orders at these people bustling about. If rage was a power source, it looked like the Infantry Breakers could provide electricity to a small nation indefinitely.

"Say, what's going on?" I asked my friends.

"Looks like an Infantry Breaker war camp." Ritsu shrugged. "Since I'm not seeing any armored idiots running around, looks like they're off killing stuff."

"How frightening." I commented.

"Do they care if we just walk on through?" Azusa asked, worriedly.

"It should be fine." Ritsu told her. "Wait, where did Yui go?"

I looked around, I couldn't see her for a moment, until I saw the little makeshift bar that had been built out of woods and canvas. I would be impressed if they built something like that every time they set down for camp. Yui was there ordering something, and I quickly rushed on over. Every time I got drunk bad things happened, so I had to stop her from repeating my mistakes.

"Y-Yui-chan, what are you doing?" I asked as she traded a silver coin for a green, unmarked bottle.

"I always wanted to try honey mead." She replied, fitting the bottle into the sash of her yukata. "Honey is sweet and tasty, so I thought I'd get a bottle for the four of us to share. The nice barman said it was something called _forty proof_. I wonder what that means."

"I don't know, Yui-chan, but we have to be _really_ careful with this stuff." I warned her, and we began to walk back to the other two. "Alcohol is a very potent substance, and we don't want any problems."

"Didn't Eila drink this stuff like water though?" Yui asked.

"Yes but she's Finnish, I mean _Varangian_, which means that's completely natural for her." I replied, wondering if what I had just said was racist at all.

The four of us together again, we began walking some more. Above, the sky had gone from black to a sickly light gray, and a lot of the snow was gone. Now it was just muddy patches, with the occasional frozen over puddle. Mount Kval was close now, but it was getting late. Hopefully Azusa kept camping supplies for us, because I certainly didn't want to sleep in the cold dirt. It would probably be well into the night by the time we reached the mountain, and Ritsu had warned us about monsters and stuff being there. When we passed the camp, we were able to see that it was actually built up on a cliff face. Past all the tents and such, we finally had a clear view of several high ranking soldiers standing at the edge of the drop, discussing something. This wasn't just a cliff, it was a valley that ran east and west, opening up on either side. The whole thing was maybe half a kilometer long, total. It was at ground level, with the cliff on the other side eventually leveling out as it got closer to the mountain. Across a fifty meter wide, twenty meter deep ravine, I saw what looked like several dozen Infantry Breaker archers on the other side. They sat at the edge, just sort of chilling out. They were all women.

A man in the same bulky armor that the man at the gates of Lutvjarg wore was standing at the edge on our side. He stopped talking to a male Infantry Breaker, and jogged over to us, armor rattling the whole time. His hair was whitish gray, and he had a beard that was tied into two neat little braids. Despite his light, hair, he looked only in his twenties. My guess was that he was from the same area that Eila had been from. He spoke in fluent Japanese, "Hey, kids, civilians aren't allowed here right now. A Hammaren and Infantry Breaker joint battle is about to take place, the way to Mount Kval is closed for at least a few days."

"Hold on there, buddy." Ritsu raised her hand. "We're not just random kids. I'm Ritsu 'Skirnir' Tainaka, messenger of the gods! This is Mugi-chan, a young Valkyrie, coming along to see glorious Varyag! With us is also Yui Hirasawa, a Sentinel. Last is Azusa, a travelling skald."

"An interesting crew." He said with crossed arms. "A Sentinel and Valkyrie though? You two should take the chance to see an example of just what our forces are capable of. Name's Jalmari Lyytikäinen, Captain of the Kotimaan 21th Hammaren Division. Pleased to meet you four."

Oh, I understood. He was part of a region of Varyag that was more akin to the Finland of my world, just like Eila. From what I gathered, there was a Norwegian, Swedish, and Russian region as well.

"What are you hunting today, Chief?" Yui asked, wholly interested.

"A group of trolls and anti-Varangian separatists working with them, mostly mercenaries. Here, look…" Captain Jalmari gestured for the four of us to follow him to the edge. We did, and looked down into the ravine. I gasped in surprise when I saw that it was chock full of Infantry Breaker men in formation. There were a least a couple hundred, looking like they were waiting just like the archers above.

_I got called a troll on the internet for saying that I thought Metallica's Nothing Else Matters was the best song they had ever done. It was quite a strange name to call me. _

"The Hammaren are on the other side, and will rush in to flank the enemy once they've engaged the Infantry Breaker. Archers will provide support, and the mages will finish the fight by burning the troll bodies. Trolls regenerate their injuries, unless they're burned. Look over west and you can see them gathering right where we want them." He pointed in that direction, where the valley ended and leveled out west, maybe half a mile away. I could see distant forms of large, hunchbacked human shaped creatures moving about that way. It was hard to see how many there were.

"They're from Mount Kval, right?" Ritsu asked.

"They are." The Captain answered.

She pointed north to the mountain, then back west to the trolls in the distance. "How'd you get them right there? If they're fighting you, why didn't they just march south instead of falling for your ambush here? Trolls are stupid, but I don't see how you could lead them like that."

"We used their stupidity to our advantage!" Jalmari laughed. "See, trolls live for only a few simple pleasures. Food, mostly, and just about any bipedal female race that's at least half their size. We just dump some live stock and female prisoners of war out there and let them have their fun for a few hours. Then, we sound our war drums to get their attention. They love fighting too, and there's no way they're going to pass up an opportunity to rush into a valley full of warriors to fight. These trolls have been a problem for caravans and roads headed north for too long. We're going to get them now."

"F-Female prisoners of war?" I repeated. "W-What are they for?"

"Oh, trolls aren't picky when it comes to women." He answered _way_ too casually. "It's a guaranteed death sentence, since trolls are large, rough, and will-"

Azusa put her hands over my ears as he kept talking, and making slightly obscene gestures. I mentally repressed everything he had just said and pretended that I never heard it. Because nobody would _actually_ do something so horrible to another human being. I was sure he was just joking around, and I had misheard him. I did make a mental note to never get captured by these people in war.

She let go of my ears, and was frowning a bit herself.

"Gee… thanks for that informative and rather graphic description." Ritsu frowned. "I think if Mio heard that, she would literally just flat out die on the spot."

"I think I'm going to be sick." Azusa muttered, looking the other way.

"I feel like I have to thank you, Azusa-chan." I blinked.

Yui seemed really, really unfazed by his apparently revolting description of what trolls do to ladies. She scratched the back of her head. "That's why we have Hammaren and Sentinels, so that it doesn't happen as much. Demons do the same thing, so we have to work harder to protect everyone."

"Yui-chan…" I didn't like how serious she looked. It looked like old Yui, which I didn't like at all.

"What can we do to help?" She chirped, smiling. "A Sentinel, A Valkyrie, Ricchan, and Azu-nyan, we're bound to be useful!"

"Hmm…" The Captain thought for a moment. "Civilians aren't typically allowed in battle. Sadly, we do not need the services of a Chooser of the Slain either, since we have workers providing the men with mead already. You four keep on standby up here. I'll point you in a direction if I see an opening. Nothing too dangerous, since you don't really look quite as, er, beefy as the rest of us."

"Thank you, sir." Yui gave a polite bow.

"So we're fighting in a troll battle then…" Ritsu sighed, taking her longbow off her back. She then smiled, "Wait… this is it. This is the day that all that money I dumped into buying magical flaming arrows pays off!"

"I'll just stand far away and watch you three do the work." Azusa decided.

I grabbed Sword-chan and held her with both hands. "Well, looks like we get at least one more battle together."

It was amazing how light this sword had become in my hands. I remembered when I first held her; the weight of the blade would send me falling over. Here I was now holding her effortlessly with both hands now. It was official; I could beat up anyone I knew in Japan now. Of course, I would never have a reason to do anything like that.

In the distance, the horde of trolls was moving closer the mouth of the valley. I could see their gray and green skin now, and their fat, misshapen bodies. They wore scraps of clothing, decorated with items I couldn't quite make out. Probably skulls and fetishes, I assumed, since I _knew_ they wouldn't wear anything nice. It wasn't before long that I could see their greasy, scraggly black hair. They were taller than humans, and ranged from either woefully skinny, to disgustingly overweight. Trolls weren't pretty to look at, and caused problems of a nonconsensual manner. I _really_ didn't feel bad for slicing them apart with Sword-chan.

"Trolls are related to giants, you know?' Ritsu playfully elbowed me, smiling just a bit. "Just thought Sword-chan there would like to hear that."

Sword-chan vibrated slightly in my hands, as if happy. I smiled just a bit too. "This sounds like a good way to say farewell then."

Azusa stepped next to me and commented, "You seem excited about this."

"I'm not excited." I assured her, and then thought for a moment on how to word my feelings. "…Think of it this way, Azusa-chan. Yui-chan said that killing trolls would be protecting people. A Defender of the Cute, I must defend the cute from trolls. Understand?"

She nodded, but still didn't look happy. "Sort of… I still don't like it."

"But we need to protect people, right?"

Azusa sighed, frustrated at me for some reason. "But what about you, Mugi? Won't you be in danger too? I couldn't bear to see you hurt or killed, I just couldn't!"

I switched Sword-chan to one hand and held hers with the other. Looking into her eyes, I took on a serious tone and told her, "Azusa-chan, I have Ricchan, Yui-chan, and a whole army of Infantry Breakers with me. Above that, I have self-preservation. As soon as I see that I'm in any sort of danger, I'll retreat back to safety. Besides, there's nothing even saying we _will_ be fighting. It's just a maybe right now, so please don't worry about me."

She threw herself against me, hugging my waist as tight as she could. "I can't _not_ worry about you, I just can't."

"Azusa-chan…" I exhaled. I went to say more, but something interrupted me. The sound of loud, pounding drums echoed across those hills and cliffs. Followed by them was a deep note from some kind of horn, then the sounds of shouting from those on the other ledge. I gently pushed Azusa away and stood with Yui and Ritsu at the edge of the ravine. Those awful trolls were now sprinting towards the valley, and from all the way up here, I could hear their inhuman shrieks and cries.

From the other side, "_Draw! Notch! FIRE!_"

The sound of a hundred bowstrings rang out as a cloud of arrows rain downed on the rushing giants. I stood there, heart pounding, wanting so bad to look away, but finding myself unable. Two more volleys of arrows were launched, but it was hard to tell if the arrows even hurt the trolls at all. I saw a few here and there fall down, but most of them rushed into the line of soldiers waiting. Green claws, and black teeth collided with steel shields and armor as the skirmish began. The shouts and battle cries from both sides were deafening. Without even realizing it, I was clutching Ritsu's arm. Each time I saw a troll cut down, I found a surge of relief, but each time a soldier was knocked down, that relief was replaced with intense dread. It dawned on me that I was watching men _die_ down there.

"S-Should we do something?" I frantically asked Ritsu. I wanted to do something, _anything_ to help them down there.

"We couldn't do too much down there." She shook her head. "Don't worry; it looks like we're winning."

From where I was standing, it was hard to tell which side was winning at all. The Infantry Breakers held their line, but their numbers were smaller than when they started. I watched in more horror as some of the trolls that looked dead began standing up again like nothing had happened. As soon as I acknowledged that, another horn blew, sounding above the sounds of battle.

I gasped in surprise as fiery explosions detonated amid the troll's ranks. Their green, malformed bodies were thrown about in the air like ragdolls. Despite myself, I felt a smile form on my face. Ritsu was right; we _were_ winning if we had people who could just blow them up like that. Those must have been the mages, and a quick glance over to the other side confirmed this. At a few points on the edge, there were women dressed just like Mugitsu, this time with skirts covering their legs. Their fingers worked to draw the magical kanji in the air. Each time those golden haired mages did so, something down there exploded, or was struck with lightning. Such a display of power was dazzling, if not a little… sexy.

More trolls were rushing in from the rocky wastes to join this battle. They weren't throwing themselves into the kill zone though; they were rushing up the side of the ravine across from us, going for the ranged combatants. There was relief in me when I saw another group of Infantry Breaker spring from pretty much nowhere to meet them. They were wearing darker armor, holding swords, spears, and axes that looked to be on fire. Those must have been the_ Hammaren_ I had heard about.

"Sir!" An Infantry Breaker shouted to the Captain. He looked no older than me, with short blonde hair, and a shadow of a beard. "Trolls and mercenary forces are headed up towards our camp here. Permission to engage with the standby forces? Should I send word by hawk for the Hammaren on the other side to send reinforcements?"

"Reinforcements won't be necessary." Captain Jalmari answered. "Send the standby as requested. These three may be accompanying you. Among them is a Chooser of the Slain and Sentinel, treat them with the same respect you would me. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" The soldier saluted. "Alright, come along you three. Only a dozen or so are coming up this way, but we won't have mage or archer support for this. Are you three ready?"

Ritsu smiled. "I got flaming arrows and was trained in archery by the elves that Freyr rules over. I was _made_ ready for this. What about you two."

Yui held up the scabbard of her katana. "I am if my friends are!"

I nodded, feeling nervous to my own personal circle of high hell. "Y-Yes, I'm ready too."

Ritsu clutched my free hand. "Hey, no stammering! You're Mugi-chan, the girl who wastes frost giants without breaking a sweat. Trolls are much smaller than those bad boys. You and Yui can take them down, and then I'll finish 'em off with my arrows. Stop looking so nervous, you've faced _much worse_ before."

"You're right." I nodded, feeling my fears melt away just a little. I _had_ fought stronger enemies, and this time I was with my best friends. I turned around to Azusa and waved her off. "Don't worry, Azusa-chan, we'll be back, and in one piece. We can have _Honey Sweet Mead Time_ after that with the stuff Yui-chan bought."

"Okay." Azusa nodded, with an unsure smile.

"Hooray for mead time!" Yui cheered, practically skipping towards slopes west. Ritsu and I followed after her, making quick pace. Coming down the slopes, we were now right above the battle going on below. Yui drew her Murasame, and instantly the rain began falling, quickly turning this slope into a mudslide. With that rain, of course, came the smell of autumn air. From our left, away from the ravine and towards the camp, a couple dozen Infantry Breaker men came running to join us. They weren't like the ones in Sakuragyfli. They weren't scary at all, and they seemed to have a brotherly aura about them.

Those aforementioned trolls were indeed rushing up to greet us, some twenty meters away now. Way too close if you asked me. Their faces were like green, deformed versions of human ones. Ugly, twisted, loathing in their eyes, and now that we were closer, I got a rather unpleasant view of how grotesquely hairy they were as well. Looking at them made me feel a little sick to my stomach. Especially since a few of them were completely naked, giving me a view of things I was going to mentally repress and forget about as soon as this was over. I had done that with the charnel hound, and had trouble remembering just what it looked like now.

"Okay, you two, do your stuff!" Ritsu shouted, drawing two arrows at once and readying them.

"Okay, Sword-chan, let's do this." I mentally willed her to fly towards these ugly giants like a gunshot. Yui stood next to me and took a fighting stance.

"I'll attack if they get too close!" She told us. "You can count on me!"

Sword-chan cleaved down through one's ugly head, sending greenish-yellow blood, skull fragments, and squishy gibs splattering around everywhere. Before it even it the ground, Ritsu drilled it with two flaming arrows. The monster went up in smoke like it had been covered in grease.

"That's what you get for not bathing at least once a day!" I shouted at it, raising my fist angrily.

"Yeah!" Yui shouted too. "Wait, what?"

Two more went down with this same strategy, but it wasn't exactly fun to watch. Despite being entirely loathsome, these trolls were still living creatures, and watching and listening to them scream as they died in fire wasn't pleasant in the least. We couldn't work fast enough to stop them all, and three got within five meters. Heeding what I said to Azusa, I turned to make a break back up the ravine slopes. Sword-chan would cover my escape.

I didn't need to though, Yui swung her sword once before they even got close. The three of them were instantly slice in half through the waist, just like those undead in our first battle together. She swung again and cut apart two more.

"Whoa!" Ritsu cried out in surprise as our friend's handiwork. "God damned it, Yui, I forgot just how awesome that sword of yours is!"

"Thanks-" She paused to take out another one. Sword-chan helped, and that troll was carved into four pieces. "-Ricchan. I practiced a whole lot to do this attack!"

A few more trolls began rushing up as reinforcements, but there were only four. We had killed the rest together. However, now there were mercenaries joining them. _Human_ mercenaries, wearing tattered armor, weapons, and furs as well. The previously dormant Infantry Breakers with us met their charge. Sword-chan and Yui did their work against the trolls, with Ritsu finishing them off with her flaming arrows. The Infantry Breakers went at the mercenaries, cleaving through them, and hacking them down almost effortlessly. I witnessed them live up their name and then turned around. This wasn't the same, this was humans killing humans, I couldn't watch it.

"Are we done?" I asked in a hollow voice, recalling Sword-chan to my back.

"Hard to say." Ritsu replied. "Looks like they're mopping up the rest in the kill zone. See, told you we wouldn't have any problems, Mugi!"

Yui threw her arm around my shoulder, and cheered, "You were so cool Mugi! It was like you were standing there doing nothing, but you were beating just as many as me."

The rain from her sword was gone, but I was a bit damp now. I took a deep breath, and replied. "Y-Yeah, you were cool too, Yui-chan."

"Really, Mugi-chan thinks I was cool? Yay!" I was glad she held me in such esteem.

"Come on you two!" Ritsu laughed, her arm going over my other shoulder. "Let's get back to the captain. Fight's over, we can relax now!"

"Hooray for relaxing!" Yui cheered again.

I didn't say anything; I was too busy trying to understand why humans would align themselves with monsters to fight other humans. I felt no remorse over killing those trolls with Sword-chan because they were, well… monsters. They were like the kind of things that people would make up in stories meant to scare children. It was like almost killing childhood fears. Not my own fears, but the fears of other children, and for some reason, that felt good. I could close my eyes and know that nobody would ever have to be afraid of those monsters again. But… I still didn't understand why humans were standing with them. Maybe they were monsters too, just in the inside.

**AFTERMATH**

Thirty out of six hundred men were killed that day, at least on our side. Some two hundred troll kills were estimated, and at least another hundred mercenaries dead too. On each side of the ravine, there was a camp. One for the women who provided ranged support, and one for the men who fought on the ground. The men's side was loud, boisterous, and filled with singing, laughing, and dancing in victory. The women's side was quiet, relaxed, with them just trying to get some sleep for the next day.

I both mentally and physically exhausted. Yui and Ritsu were at the men's camp, enjoying mead, song, and dance. I stayed over on the quiet side, comfortably sober, and away from the noise to some extent. I could see the many campfires from across the ravine, and the men dancing their folk dances. I wanted to join them, I really did, but I simply didn't have the energy. Thankfully, some of the women of the _Kotimaan _division of the Infantry Breakers were able to find me a spare tent with some fur quilts to sleep in. I would sleep soon, but for now, I sat near the edge with Sword-chan on my lap, looking up at the pitch black sky. The clouds made it so I could see no stars.

"Hey, Mugi." Azusa's voice greeted me from behind. I looked back to see her walking over to me, dressed in a single white nightgown that went to her knees, and still barefoot. I could see that her little feet were dirty from walking like that all day.

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked as she sat down next to me.

"No, I'm too restless." She replied.

"Me too. That battle left me pretty shaken up." I told her.

"At least you're alive and unhurt, that's all I could ask for."

"That's sweet of you to say."

"You won't do it again, through, right? I mean, after you give back your sword?" Azusa asked me.

"Oh, God no." I quickly shook my head, briefly imaging that image of me being butchered by a giant again. "Beyond Sword-chan, I only know a little bit of self defense, just like you. Going into battle pretending to be a soldier is something I couldn't do. After I lose the sword, I need to… I guess retire from being a warrior or something."

"What will you do then?"

I sighed, shaking my head again. "I don't know, Azusa-chan. Maybe, find a way to go back to my world, if I can. I love my friends here, but, this isn't for me. The violence, strife, hatred, warfare, I can't take it!"

"Mugi…" She placed her hand on mine.

I bit down on my lower lip and began to rant. "I'm a high school student from Japan with good grades. I play keyboard for the Light Music Club with my friends, and serve them tea and snacks with a gentle smile. I'm not a warrior, soldier, fighter, or whatever else you want to call it! I shouldn't be here, and I shouldn't be going around calling myself 'Defender of the Cute' either. And it's, like, the harder I try to see the good in things, the harder Midgard spits in my eye. Like last night, I take you and Yui-chan out with Mugitsu. I _hoped_ Mugitsu would show warm colors, but instead she just bullies you two and talks about committing genocide and murdering my double. It feels like I really have no place in this world. If for some reason I've been damned to Midgard for whatever sins I committed back home, the least I can do is hope to live my life out quietly and peacefully with Mio-chan. But of course, that's not going to happen with how my luck is. I'm sorry to just, dump this all on you Azusa-chan, but it's been inside me for weeks now…"

"It's okay…" She whispered, patting my hand. "You're doing your best, and for what it's worth, your best has been phenomenal so far. But, I can relate with you though, not having a place here…"

"That reminds me." I said as she paused. "I don't know really anything about you, Azusa-chan. Where you came from, and why you're with us, and not your family."

She flinched at the word 'family'.

"Oh, is that a sore subject?" I cautiously asked.

Azusa nodded her head a bit. "Yes and no. I love my parents, and they love me, but I haven't seen them in a couple years. During the Fifty Skirmish War, we got separated when we fled our home north of Sakuragyfli. With all the chaos, we got lost in a refugee center. I found their things, but they were gone. I've been just kind of wandering from place to place since then. The magic items I got from them have made my survival possible."

"I'm so sorry…" I scooted closer to her. "Do you know where your parents may be?"

She shook her head. "No, not a clue. I'd like to think they're searching for me though. I've tried asking people, and putting my name out, but two years later and still nothing. This is selfish to say, but, by being with you and the others, I was hoping they'd hear about me. You're the current champion of Sakuragyfli, a maiden who appeared from nowhere with a magical sword to save the people and all that. I was thinking, maybe they'd hear about Mugi and her servant, Azusa."

"You mean, _friend_, Azusa." I corrected her.

"Yeah, my bad, _friend_." She chuckled. Azusa scooted a bit closer, and yawned.

"You can rest your head on my lap if you want." I offered.

"Oh, thank you, Mugi." She did that, blushing just a bit, and looking up at me. "You want to know something?"

"Sure." I nodded, smiling down at her. She looked so adorable, so much like a kitten in my lap.

"I don't think you're a Valkyrie at all." Azusa said. "Valkyries are said to be beautiful with their golden hair, radiant skin, and soft faces. They're also incredibly aloof and spiteful towards mortals like us. You're not like that though, and to me, it's your kindness that makes you beautiful. That and your smile."

"T-Thank you." I blushed. While used to compliments to some extent, this one was different. It was more than just the standard comments on my hair and eyes that every single Varangian seemed to have. In a world like this, being called beautiful for my smile and kindness made me feel unique.

"I'd miss you if did go home though." She yawned, rolling over just a bit in my lap so she was resting her cheek against it. Azusa closed her eyes and whispered, "But, please, even if things get really bad, scary, or sad, please don't stop smiling for me? It motivates everyone."

"I… I promise." I agreed, smiling to prove my point. "Thank you Azusa, for coming to talk with me. I feel a lot better, about everything."

"Anytime." She yawned once more before dozing off into sleep on my lap.

Gently, and as carefully as I could, I carried her to my tent. The bedroll and furs were big enough for the two of us. I would sleep in my kimono, since being nearly naked with another girl was pretty much infidelity. I laid her down, tucked her in, and then took my place next to her. The furry warm quilt was great, and having this magical ring made all the better. In fact, it nearly felt like home in the winter, sleeping under a kotatsu. I was able to close my eyes and fall into the comforting arms of sleep quickly. I was exhausted after that day, and spent the night dreaming of blue swords and black haired girls.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Au-Au-Author's Notes~ **__So basically I tried to make this chapter, like, as good as possible. I've recognized a bunch of problems with the previous one and don't want to repeat those mistakes. Overall, I'm happy with how this one turned out and think you guys'll like it too. And the fun part was, I was like, REALLY drunk writing the scenes in Lutvjarg too. _

_Another few things that may interest people: That opening poem is like a thousand years old, and I AM using Norse Mythology as my canon here. There are various attestations, but Geror ending up with Freyr's Sword is canon, and I'm trying to follow that. Also, a few people I talked to do didn't know this, but only like two names in this story were thought up by me. Sakuragyfli and Lutvjarg are the only two names I made up. Every other last "Norse sounding" name is either taken from a Scandinavian language, or some other form of Scandinavian culture. For instance, Varangians were a real name used for real people._

_Anyway, reviews plox._


	17. Taking Back The Sword: Part 1

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 17**

**TAKING BACK THE SWORD**

**PART ONE**

"_Who dares to play with death  
>Who smells the dragon´s breath<br>No grief for the fallen ones  
>The search for the sword has begun"<em>

_Sword Chant_ by _Ensiferum _

Each time my wooden practice sword collided with Yui's, our ears were graced with a sharp _THWACK _that made my hands vibrate. The Sun had barely risen, and the two of us took to doing some morning warm-ups before marching to Mount Kval. In Sakuragyfli we only had one practice sword and that was given to Azusa, but here we were able to get some wooden hand-and-half swords to work with. They were right around the size of our katanas, which worked perfectly. It was good we were warming up, because if we ran into trouble at Mount Kval, the two of us would be loose and limber death dealers. Last thing we needed was to cramp up in battle. We had also eaten some breakfast, more of that porridge stuff sweetened with apples and cinnamon. Marching into a troll infested mountain on an empty stomach was an awful idea.

Right now we were just outside the female camp, with some Infantry Breakers of both genders nearby. What I could hear sounded like the men were trying to hit on some entirely uninterested women with no luck at all. I felt bad for them, some of those Infantry Breaker girls were cute, but they were stone cold in their attitude towards anyone who wasn't them. Captain Jalmari was nearby too, happily discussing further battles with his men.

_THWACK_

"I had a really weird dream last night." I told Yui as we did our little wooden sword dance.

"Oh? What was it about?" She asked, effortlessly parrying another one of my strikes. Yui made it looks so easy, while here I was having to focus so much of my mind to guard her attacks. Every now and then she'd still give me a light smack with the wooden sword. I was getting better though.

"It's hard to explain." I replied, ducking quickly to avoid her horizontal slash.

"Oh, nice one Mugi-chan!" She complimented me, leaping back to avoid my counter attack. "Can you try to explain though? I want to know what someone like Mugi-chan dreams about.

_THWACK_

"Well, it was me and Mio-chan in what I think was the caves of Mount Kval. In my dream she had blue eyes for some reason, ones that looked like mine. In fact, she looked more like a daughter of the two of us."

_THWACK_

"Maybe she was your daughter." Yui suggested. "There's magic so two girls can have babies. I've seen Sentinels do it before, well not _actually_ do it."

"Maybe, but I think it was her." I replied, quickly sidestepping one of her overhead cleaves. "Anyway, we were trying to run from something, but at the same time we were trying to run to somewhere important. She called me _Onee-chan_ too, which was even weirder. She kept telling me to slow down, because I was running fast. I was wearing splint armor too, and it was really heavy on my shoulders and breasts, I remember that part perfectly. I also had that shiny blue sword from Azusa-chan's poem."

"Wow, that was a weird dream then." Yui commented, smacking me in the ribs with her practice sword for the fourth time. It didn't hurt, but it made me feel a teeny bit embarrassed.

"It was." I nodded, getting smacked on the arm now. "We came into this really big cave room, and it had that tingly feeling all over it. I mean that tingly feeling that you feel when somebody casts a spell, or when you kiss a mage. In the middle of this really big cave was a floating fortress sort of thing. We had to get up there, I don't remember why, but we did. Luckily, Mio-chan had a spell that let us sort of float up there, kind of like we did in that restaurant with Mugitsu. Well, we get up there and there were all these dark elves. At least, that's what I think they were. Their leader was an evil mage that we had to stop, but he and his buddies were too strong. He hit us with some spell and knocked us off, dropping us some twenty meters to the stone ground below. Mio-chan grabbed me midway down and used her body to break my fall. I woke up before we hit the ground though. It was a really vivid dream, and kind of scary too."

"Sounds like it." Yui nodded, stepping back and lowering her weapon. That meant our practice and warming up was over. "I would hate to be in that kind of situation, fighting mages underground. Murasame doesn't work underground, since I can only use that attack when it's raining."

"How often do you fight inside?" I asked her.

She shrugged, "Not very often, and I usually have support during those times. Aurora was in charge of taking point before she... Hey look, it's Azu-nyan!"

Indeed our twin-tailed friend was coming to greet us. She was in a light blue dress instead of her previous white one. It looked good on her, and was slightly tighter than the last one, accenting what little curves she had perfectly. I wiped sweat off my forehead with the back of my forearm and said hello. "Hi, Azusa-chan, are you already to leave soon?"

"Mhm. Ritsu will be here soon too, she's sleeping in after a long night of partying I guess." Azusa told us. I hoped Ritsu would be here soon, I was restless and rearing to go.

From the group of soldiers, I saw Captain Jalmari detach and make his way to us. He was shirtless, and wearing a skir- I mean _kilt_ like a true warrior; sort of. Despite my clear attraction to cute girls, I did have to admit he had a completely flawless chest and abs a girl could drool over.

"I heard you two speak of dreams." He said, now standing with us. "They say dreams are glimpses into the fates that have been woven for us. A look into the future, in other words."

"Are they really?" I asked, seriously hoping that dream wouldn't come true. I once dreamed I was a commissar in the _Warhammer 40k_ universe, but that certainly hadn't come true. All I could do was hope that my dream last night would be like that one.

Jalmari nodded, and then chuckled a bit. "Surely that's something a Valkyrie would know, isn't it? I knew there was no way you were really a Chooser of the Slain. So then you are nothing more than a travelling warrior, one who seems to share features of the Varangian and Aibureidon people. That's a bit interesting, and that weapon you wielded in battle will certainly be the talk for many more days to come. A sword that fights on its own, that's not something you see every day."

"I guess it isn't." I replied, really unsure what to say there.

"Before you leave off to that mountain with your friends, I will indulge you in a secret." He cleared his throat, than spoke up, "I am not truly called Jalmari Lyytikäinen, but Jalmari the Sixteenth Lutvjarg. That, my friends, effectively makes me king of the nation you're standing in."

"Oh, pleased to meet you then, your majesty!" I dropped to my hands and knees in a proper bow. Such a thing would surely be expected when meeting the king of a nation. Now I was really unsure what to say, because I had no idea how to act around the king of place like Varyag. I saw Yui doing the same thing next to me, which I took as a sign I was doing the right thing here.

"Rise, you two. My men do not bow to me, and neither shall you." He said, and the two of us stood. "My name was kept hidden to keep would-be-assassins quiet, but I feel we are in safety currently. I came to this battlefield to prove that my time as the new Lutvjarg has not made me soft. While I did not partake in the combat like the rest, I would like you to tell anyone who says otherwise that I did. My job as king is a dangerous one, and I want anyone trying to steal the crown to know that I am still the warrior I was when I became king."

"You make it sound as if a lot of people want to hurt you." I commented. "I don't understand, you seem like a nice guy."

He laughed at that. "Oh, please, none of those people care for what I am like at all. You must be new here, or know little of us Varangians. If a warrior is able to best the king in combat, he becomes the next ruler. It is a broken system that I eventually aim to fix in my time as ruler. We shouldn't have a system where the ruler is only there because he is considered to be the strongest in the land."

"I could see where problems would arise with that." I nodded. Part of me wanted to enlighten this man on how effective the likes of a constitutional monarchy would be, but I felt that would be rude of me. In any modern government, a king or emperor is little more than a figurehead, and it felt mean to suggest he become that while a separate governing held true power. Then again, I didn't know how much power Jalmari had in political decisions either. For all I knew, maybe Akihito and Michiko had more power than him.

"Anyway, I just wanted you to know truth since you _did_ help in that battle. So, are you going to take your magic sword and attempt to steal the crown?" He asked with a joking smirk.

"Oh no, I could never do that!" I told him with a defensive wave of my arms. I could _feel_ the female Infantry Breakers staring at me, like they were hoping I'd say yes.

Jalmari laughed again, "I can rest without worry then, for the powerful Mugi-chan: Defender of the Cute has granted me the blessing of her mercy!"

I chuckled a bit too as he walked back to his soldiers, still laughing. It felt like he was trying to do nothing but cheer me up. When looking amongst the Infantry Breaker men, I could see that everywhere. Soldiers laughing with one another, telling stories and jokes, all while drinking honey mead and trying to have a good time despite their roles. Last night they had probably seen some of their friends die, but here they were the next morning laughing and drinking as they began to pack up camp. The female Infantry Breakers weren't like this at all, neither here or in Sakuragyfli. They looked like they were working together because they were forced to. I wonder why that was, why that family mentality was gone between them. Hell, in Sakuragyfli they had thought _eating me_ was a socially acceptable thing to do. It was _really_ hard to try to feel pity towards them when they did stuff like that.

**AN UNFAMILAR FACE**

Ritsu woke up a little while later and we were able to set off towards the mountain. The weather remained its perpetual gray, and it began to snow a bit. None of it stuck, leaving the ground as dry and rocky as it had been for kilometers. When we left the camp, we were forced to walk through the remnants of yesterday's battle. The smell of carrion, blood, and burnt meat graced my nostrils with unholy vigor. There was another ravine further north of the battlefield, between it and the mountain, forcing us to march through the field of bodies to get around it.

"I think I'm going to be sick…" I exhaled as I stepped around a burnt, mangled troll corpse. Not too far away, a raven was happily pecking out the eye of some dead mercenary; I promptly looked in the other direction.

"Those ravens keep staring at me." Azusa shuttered.

Yui, surprisingly seemed entirely unaffected by the carnage. "This smell kind of reminds me of that spiked golem that these demons built to collect cadavers from battlefields to make into undead. It had spikes all over it, and would sometimes impale actual living people on them. Me and some other Sentinels had to work together to break it. That was not a nice day."

"I'm feeling like I should thank every last god that Mugitsu hasn't gotten her hands on one of those." Ritsu remarked.

Azusa pointed south and asked, "Who's that?"

Some ten meters away, there was a woman in bloody, waist-length mail armor sitting atop a chair sized rock, one leg folded over the other. She was playing a harp, with a shining gold shield and a long spear resting against her legs. Her hair was blonde like mine and that of the Varangians, it was flowing wildly in the wind. She looked familiar, like I had seen her before. I blinked once, and then saw there were half a dozen wolves around her, sniffing at the carcasses strewn at their feet.

"What the…" I whispered as I tried to make sense of what I had just seen. In fact, a few moments ago that woman hadn't even been there, nonetheless the wolves.

"Hello there!" The woman with the blood-stained mail armor waved at us. She was speaking some language I didn't know the name of, but understood fully. I assumed it was the divine tongue I heard about before.

"H-Hi!" I called back.

She stood up, or sort of floated up into a standing position. "Oh, you speak the divine tongue! I did not expect that from a traveler." With that she began walking towards us with light steps, like she was barely touching the ground. Behind her, the wolves were chewing on the remains of the men who died under the blades of the Infantry Breakers.

From behind me, Ritsu asked, "What's she saying?"

"She saying she's surprised that I can understand her." I looked back and told her.

The newcomer kept walking towards me. I could see now just how extraordinarily beautiful she was. It was an unearthly beauty, one that made me almost have to avert my gaze to prevent falling in love with her on the spot. There was no way she could be human and that gorgeous. Everything about her seemed to be molded by some divine sculptor to be absolutely perfect in every way. It was frightening, because some part of me wanted her to sweep me off my feet and make me her lover. I mentally connected with Sword-chan, making sure she was ready to strike in case this turned out to be some kind charm weaving demon.

"Good morning, traveler." She said, eerily pleasant. "It is a beautiful sight, isn't it, the bodies around us? It was enough to inspire me to play my harp instead of doing what I sent here to do."

"What were you sent here to do?" I asked, then mentally kicked myself for being rude. "Oh, where are my manners?" I extended my hand. "I'm Tsumugi, and these are my friends: Azusa, Ritsu, and Yui. We're on our way to Mount Kval."

"Tsumugi?" She raised an eyebrow, and shook my hand. "I'm Kára, the Valkyrie sent to collect the slain from this battle; when nobody is looking. Tell me, Tsumugi, do you know of a man named Helgi?"

"No, I…" I paused for a moment, then felt a strange feeling wash over me. Suddenly, my mind was flooded with memories and information that, by all means, I should not have had. "…Helgi was your lover, slain by his brother after you killed their other bothers in a love scandal. You used to be named Sigrún before you died of sadness."

Kára laughed wildly, "Yes! That's it, that's exactly it!"

_How did I know that though? Is something possessing my memories, like a demon? This keeps happening! _

"I don't know how I know that." I admitted. "I shouldn't know that, nobody ever told me that."

"You are Tsumugi, are you not?" She asked, still smiling.

"I am but… wait, you're mistaking me for the Valkyrie Tsumugi, the one with the sister Mugitsu. Oh no, I'm not her, I've only recently come to this land from far away. I'm not a Valkyrie, and Mugitsu certainly isn't my sister." I tried to explain. Being mistaken for a Valkyrie amongst the humble people of Midgard was one thing, but to be mistaken by a _true_ Valkyrie, that could be nothing but a problem, I was sure.

"Right, right… of _course_ you aren't her." Kára smiled, her sarcastic over bearing. "You just look, talk, and…" She lunged forward, and roughly groped my breast and sniffed the nape of my neck. I gasped at the sensation as her fingers pinched my nipple, and heard my friends gasp in surprise as well. She let go of me, leaving me completely speechless. "You even smell and feel like her too."

"T-Th-th…" I stuttered, _really_ not sure what to say.

Azusa stepped forward, "H-Hey, just what do you think you're doing?"

"Silly girl, thinking I speak her language." Kára chuckled. "I understand though, Tsumugi, and I knew that you couldn't _actually_ have been killed by your sister. She embarrassed you so you stepped down and decided to live as a mortal and make human friends. Please, you're not the first to do that, there's no need to lie about it."

"I'm telling the truth, really. This is all one big coincidence." I tried to tell her again. "And would you please not... touch me… like that. It was very, er, uncalled for."

Kára just laughed again. "Oh you. You play the part of an unaware traveler quite well, I'm impressed. It's like you really believe you're in that role! Anyway, I'd like you four to look the other way and keep marching on because I have work to do here. You know, Chooser of the Slain business. Hope to see you around, Tsumugi, and your secret is safe with me. If you still talk to your sister, tell her that I still think she's a heartless bitch who should choke on the edge of sword!"

"I'll k-keep that I mind…" I muttered, quickly looking the other way and walking as fast as I could away. I couldn't even bring myself to say goodbye because that whole encounter had left me feeling dizzy. My friends followed after me, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything about what Kára and I had talked about. What had really upset me was how I remembered things about her that I shouldn't have known, and the way she had forcefully grabbed my breast. What frightened me most about the latter was how it had almost felt good, and her unnatural beauty had me sort of enjoy her perverted hand. I just told myself that it was some sort of magical charm and nothing more. The only hands that would be touching these breasts would be Mio's, or maybe Yui and Azusa's if the situation somehow warranted. Just to be safe, Ritsu was included in the list too. Ui as well.

**TAKING BACK THE SWORD**

An hour later we were finally reaching the very first slopes of Mount Kval. I was a bit silent, still thinking about what that Valkyrie had said to me. Part of me thought she was joking, because the other Tsumugi had died hundreds of years ago. Immortal or not, how could anyone remember a smell or touch for that long? I could barely remember what Pickles the Cat smelled like now.

"Do you know where we're supposed to go when we get to the mountain?" I asked Ritsu, wishing I had done that at least 24 hours ago.

She nodded, "Yeah, Geror is supposed to be expecting us. That should grant us an escort to her, since she has a bunch of frost giant buddies there. Just, be prepared for anything, alright everyone?"

"I'm always prepared!" Yui enthusiastically replied, stumbling over a rock she wasn't prepared for.

Azusa giggled, "We'll be fine, we have the Defender of the Cute with us."

I ran my fingers over the woven silk wrapped around the hilt of my katana. "Without Sword-chan, I probably won't be much help…but, if anything happens, I'll try. I won't run away, and I won't let any of you down. That's a promise!"

Yui threw her arm around my shoulder and laughed, "Mugi-chan would make a great Sentinel, I think! Too bad she's too old to become one."

"I think the Infantry Breakers take women of all ages." Ritsu added.

"No!" Azusa shouted at that, catching me by surprise. "Don't even joke about Mugi joining the Infantry Breakers, Hammaren, or any other of Varyag's disposable masses!"

"Calm down, Azusa, I was just kidding." Ritsu grumbled. "Besides, Mugi is wayyyy too nice to join that legion of heartless bitches anyway."

"More nice people would be good for them." Yui decided.

This made me ask, "Why are the women Infantry Breakers so mean anyway? Jalmari and his men didn't seem all that bad. But all the women I've met, even the cute ones, had this rapist-mercenary vibe and have been mean to me."

"I don't actually know." Yui answered right away.

"Because they're Varangian." Ritsu shrugged. "That's all you need to know really."

"I guess I'll give the real answer…" Azusa sighed. "You know for being the youngest, I really shouldn't be the source of lore for Mugi. Anyway, they're all so mean because that's how they're raised and trained from a young age. Women, to put it simply, aren't as physically strong as men, _especially_ Infantry Breakers. Not to mention we have a whole host of other biological inhibitors that cause problems too; namely a certainly monthly event. Since they can't be as strong as the men in the Varyag army, they try to be as mean, ferocious, and vicious as possible. They're scarier, and battles can be won by destroying enemy morale. More than double the time, enemies have surrendered to female Infantry Breakers over men. That attitude towards battle affects everything in their lives though. They're not allowed to be happy, to put it simply. Life is tough, and things like sexual abuse run rampant with the higher ranking soldiers towards the lower ones."

"That's nothing like the Sentinels." Yui commented right away. "My instructor, 'Ma, was really nice to me, and patient too."

"Like I said, that's Varyag for you." Ritsu scoffed. "I can't stand how the women are treated and expected to act this way, and everyone is okay with it."

"I'm not okay with it." I told her, keeping my voice as calm as I could. "It's things like that make me really not like Midgard, and make me want to go home. I understand that nobody here can just get along, but to be that way to your friends in battle? How could Varyag be okay with making its defenders so miserable?"

"That's just the way it is…" Azusa sighed, patting me on the back.

"Maybe I should be king… I mean _queen_ of Varyag. Tsumugi the Seventeen Lutvjarg." I grumbled, curling my fingers into passive aggressive fists. "That way nobody would have to be part of an army that forces you into being mean. I would reward kindness anyway I could, and try to stop all these people from fighting. I'm from a nation in another world that has had nearly seventy years of peace, and doesn't even have a standing offensive army. Surely some of my country's policies could help here."

"Good luck trying to change the mindset of an entire nation, Mugi." Ritsu slowly shook her head. "These people fight because they like fighting. You could take away every last reason they have to hold a sword now, but they'd just find another the next day."

"It doesn't have to be that way." I insisted.

Ritsu sighed, gripping my shoulder. "Mugi, answer me this, does that place you come from, _Japan_, have a lot of enemies?"

"No or at least not any real dangerous ones."

"Then I don't think you really understand Varyag, They _always_ have enemies both local and foreign." She told me.

I thought for a few seconds then came up with my own argument. "Well, before our age of peace, Japan had plenty of enemies and territorial disputes. We had problem neighbors to the north, west, and eventually even the east, south, and enemies further north than the those northern enemies. But, despite our several centuries of problem neighbors who were just jealous of us, we got past our problems and all lived in global harmony. It was good for everyone."

"Uh-huh." Ritsu nodded. "How'd you guys achieve that though? Just dominate everyone else, or somehow manage to make everyone stop fighting and hold hands? Varyag _has_ tried the latter, but it doesn't work."

"Well… we _kind_ of did that…" I lowered my voice, and then quickly muttered out. "…we just sort of ended up on the losing end of a global conflict due to no fault of our own and totally could have been the world super power afterwards if our allies at the time hadn't made a drastic tactical mistake and assault a northernmost country in the dead of winter and we would have kept on fighting if it weren't for our other enemies at the time dropping explosives that leveled entire cities after firebombing our capital in what pretty much amounts to a war crime without getting in trouble while we were forced to answer to much lesser issues that they hypocritically dubbed as 'atrocities' while forgetting that most of the things they did to us weren't exactly pleasant either but you certainly don't hear me complaining."

I paused and took a deep breath.

"My point is despite getting involved in a war that left tens of millions on all sides dead, we were able to get past our differences!" I finished with a cheery smile, and then added through clenched teeth. "Although forbidding a country to have standing military then calling their soldiers out to help in the middle of the desert wasn't nice of them either."

"So it sounds like your side lost in that war and all the fighting stopped." Ritsu commented.

"No, it's not like that… completely…" I stammered. Oh God I hated this debate…

She smiled at me, and said, "Just think of Varyag like that winning side in your world. Once they beat their enemies, both foreign, and local, the fighting will stop and maybe we'll end up with an age of peace like yours."

"Maybe…" I agreed for her sake. If this was anything like 10th century Earth like I imagined, they had about another thousand years before that happened. _Enjoy your thousand years of stupid, pointless conflict until all wars end when some asshole invents weapons that can literally burn the entire world to a crisp_, I thought, quite bitterly. I think I needed a hug.

"Azusa-chan, can I have a hug?" I asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah, of course!" She seemed quite surprised at my random request. Yui joined in too, and this sporadic group cuddle turned out to be just what I need.

Ritsu seemed to know the way to go, like she had been here before. Snow began to pile up around us as the elevation increased. Needless to say, I was quite frightened when we passed a few small little campfires with smaller trolls around them. Fat, ugly things, but they didn't seem violent. They drank their ale and watched us from a distance, making crude, sexual remarks that I could understand perfectly. None of them were worth repeating. Trust me.

Around us now were evergreen trees, giving off the strong smell of pine. That smell immediately reminded me of the alcoholic drink, gin. The snow, trees, and rock formations were all very pretty. The scenery did wonders to distract me from the trolls grunting out perverted monologues in their 'secret' language. The only thing that really took away from the natural beauty was the occasional skeleton, totem made of skulls, or warning painted in blood telling us to go back. All those things put together were enough to make wonder if we were in any danger.

"Now… if I remember right, Geror is in the upper caves." Ritsu spoke up as we ascended up. "I've only been in some of the outer caves, but that's where we should meet a guide. The caves sort of work like an evolutionary ladder, with the smartest creatures being up top, and the monsters down below. The lower caves, far below ground, have all the monsters and feral trolls. The outer caves and central caves have the normal trolls like the ones we're seeing around us. The upper caves are home to giants, dark elves, and wyvern dragons. If we're cautious and treat them like gods, we should be able to get to Geror and back with no trouble."

"I don't like _should_. I'd rather hear _will_." Azusa shuttered.

"If we're just friendly like Ricchan said, there won't be a problem." I assured her, emphasizing my words with the squeeze of her small hand in mine. I couldn't help but notice how Azusa had such cute hands that were a strong contrast to Mio's much larger ones. Why hadn't I noticed this back home with them? I also was aware that I was hugging and touching her a lot more often than before.

"I really hope so." She cracked a smile.

"If not, Yui and I can dish out some pain. You're forgetting that I've beaten fire giants alone!" Ritsu boasted. "Hill giants, frost giants, fire giants, even legions of mind flayers and dark elves. I've taken then all down with my bow and axes!"

"We never get to see you fight though." I commented.

"That's because a true warrior never lets the enemy get an edge!" She laughed. "I gotta keep my distance and lurk in the shadows, or else those giants would tear me into pieces. Literally."

"Spoken like a true ranger." Azusa giggled.

We came to a wide and high cave mouth. It was hard to tell if it was natural or carved out by something. Torches lined the walls, glowing dimly in the faint light of the cave within. There was a tattered banner next to a bloody flag just outside the entrance. The flag had a symbol I didn't know, but the banner had the troll rune for "Neutral".

"Ricchan, does that banner mean this area is neutral?" I asked her.

She nodded, "Yeah, pretty much means no killing here. Parts of the cave are bound by his kind of truce to stop monsters from fighting outside of their own turfs. Neutral ground I guess, which means you need a good reason to start a fight."

"Who polices this?" I then asked.

"Nobody, it's an honored truce. Trolls and giants may be stupid, but they honor this kind of stuff." Ritsu answered, already marching into the caverns. I followed her with our two friends, feeling an immense sense of dread as we stepped out from under the sky. I could smell a mix of incense and smoke from within. To me, it felt like the ground was vibrating underfoot, like this whole mountain was alive somehow. The walls were marked with crude paintings of green hunched figures standing over toppled stick figures smeared with red. My guess was that these were leaderboards for trolls.

Following Ritsu, we passed chambers that branched off from this main tunnel. All I could see from them was a flickering fire light, and the dancing shadows of humanoid creatures within. The vibrating was stronger, and I could hear the faint sounds of drums from far within the mountain. The air was much warmer, enough to make me consider shedding my magic ring. She turned once, and the caves seemed to ascend a bit. I had completely lost my sense of direction at this point. North, south, I had no idea which way we were going, or how high above or below ground we were. It seemed incredibly easy to get lost in a place like this.

"Skirnir." A female voice spoke. It sounded familiar. Out from the shadows, a woman stepped to meet us. She was wearing a black dress like Azusa's, only made from a much nicer material that looked like satin. In the dim torchlight, I could make out her black hair and blue eyes.

"Mugitsu?" I gasped. This was the last person I expected to see here.

Ritsu's hand gripped the handle of a sheathed axe at her belt. "Fancy meeting you here, of all places."

Mugitsu gave us a lazy smile and spoke in this strange, nearly monotone voice. "I am not Mugitsu, but her familiar."

"Her… familiar?" Ritsu repeated in disbelief.

"How is that possible?" Azusa asked.

"I thought familiars could only be pet animals." Yui said, sounding as confused as I was feeling.

Mugitsu's 'familiar' nodded, smiling pleasantly still. "I am Gitsu, a magically created copy of my mistress given a small portion of her soul. I am made to serve her in any way, but do not possess magic like she does. I am here to escort you four to Geror."

"Why you, though?" Ritsu asked. I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I was looking into the blue eyes of a clone.

"I was on loan to Geror so that she would spare my mistress frost giant soldiers to use against Sakuragyfli." Gitsu answered, and then stepped over right in front of me. "You are the one that my mistress calls _Onee-chan_. I know of you, she tried to make you like she made me, but all your makes turned violent and were promptly disposed of."

"S-she…what? Remade me?" I asked, not really believing any of this.

"Yes." Gitsu nodded. "That is not a difficult spell for someone as powerful as my mistress. It is good that you came, because mistress likes you quite a bit. You remind her of her old Onee-chan when she was young like you. This makes mistress happy, and that is a good thing because I feel all her emotions as well. In that way, I am exactly like a mage's familiar. We are bonded magically, Mugitsu and I, but she is my mistress forever."

Yui stepped up to Gitsu and raised her hand. It was faintly glowing, and Yui had a strangely focused look on her face. She lowered that hand, the glowing faded, and she said. "I think she's telling the truth. I used a minor spell to see if she had magical power, and the real Mugitsu would have lit up for me like an Aibureidon firework. She only has a little, like what you'd expect from a familiar."

"That's incredible…" Ritsu said in awe. "I heard Mio talk about people making humans into familiars, but to clone yourself magically and do that?"

Gitsu smiled at that, "Why thank you, Skirnir, I am quite glad to see that my making impresses you all. I'm sorry I cannot be like the real mistress, but I am fortunate enough to take on her lovely appearance. Along with escorting you four to Geror, I was told to provide my other, normal services."

"What kind of services are those?" Azusa asked.

"I can cook, clean, and carry things." She proudly replied. "Also, I can perform oral sex quite well too, as mistress says. Would any of you like that? I'm sure my talent in it would be more than satisfactory."

"Pass." Ritsu replied right away, frowning.

"Err, maybe some other time." Yui blushed.

"I'm romantically involved with someone else." I let her down easy.

Gitsu looked at Azusa, who was silently blushing. "What of you, little one?"

"N-No, thanks…" She stammered.

"Ah well, follow along then." Gitsu gestured for us to go with her. We did so, ascending further into this maze of tunnels.

After only a couple minutes, a still blushing Azusa asked, "S-So Mugitsu makes you uh… do… _things_ to her… right?"

"Yes." Gitsu nodded. "I was created mostly to fulfill the role of a servant girl in all aspects. I'm very happy to serve under my mistress."

"You said she also made…Mugi too?" Azusa then asked.

"She did."

"Did she make that Mugi well… do those same things?" Azusa practically cringed as she asked that question.

I quickly intervened, "Heh heh, I don't thing Gitsu needs to answer that. I already have enough things keeping me awake at night; let's not add to the list."

"She did." Gitsu answered anyway.

That was how I learned that Mugitsu magically cloned me and her to have sex with. It was like she was trying in every way to scare the absolute piss out of me. I didn't get to where I was with Mio by putting on a Halloween mask and jumping out of a closet at her in the dark. Each day it just got a little harder to see the good in the creepy little sociopath that was Mugitsu. Now all I could wonder was if having sex with yourself was either incest or masturbation. This was really bad because I was going to be thinking about this for _hours_ now, like I always did with this thought rolled into my head.

"Of course she did…" Azusa snorted, rolling her fingers into fists. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was upset.

"Azusa-chan, it's not like it was actually me she was doing perverted things to. Just someone who just happened to have my name, and apparently looked exactly like me." I tried to tell her.

"That barely makes it better!" She raised her voice. "I don't get it, why did we waste our time trying to actually befriend that magic throwing monster?"

Gitsu sighed, "You're really lucky my mistress isn't remotely accessing my senses like she can do. People who say mean things about her tend to disappear."

"Case in point." Azusa grumbled.

"It's better than trying to kill her." I reminded Azusa.

"At least until we can have Yui and Sanya get her with that magic scroll to steal her immortality." Ritsu looked towards Yui, and turned her voice fully hostile. "Any day, Hirasawa, it's been about three months now…"

Yui jumped, flinching away from Ritsu. She began stammering defensively, "W-Well, it's… it's not as easy as you're making it sound. We have to keep a magic item like that locked up, and we never have a chance to really use it when Mugitsu shows up. D-Don't worry, we'll get her one of these days."

Gitsu laughed, "Oh boy, you guys are fun."

"Thanks." Ritsu growled towards her.

"H-Hey, let's not start fighting." I butted in, and then quickly went to change the subject. "Here, I know something that will distract us from arguing. Azusa-chan, why don't you try holding Sword-chan?"

"Huh, why?" She asked.

I grabbed Sword-chan off my back and held her up with my left hand, feeling my arm tremble slightly at the weight. "Let's see if Azusa-chan can lift this sword. It's better than us starting to fight with each other."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Ritsu asked, skeptically.

"Nothing!" I cheered.

Azusa looked nervous, "Oh, okay, but don't laugh at me if I can't. I'm not strong like you."

I giggled, "I'm not _that_ strong." And handed Sword-chan over. Azusa gripped the hilt with her small hands, hardly able to even get her fingers around it fully. As soon as I let go, Azusa fell forward with a yelp and Sword-chan hit the ground with a loud metal clatter. She tried to lift Sword-chan from the ground, but only get up about half a meter before dropping her again.

"That thing has to weigh at least thirty kilograms!" Azusa panted.

I lifted Sword-chan back up with my mind into my hand, and then held her normally. The weight was actually kind of comfortable to hold. I giggled at Azusa, to her disdain. "It's not polite to guess a lady's weight like that."

"Were you just doing that to show off?" Ritsu asked, smiling too.

"Only sort of…" I admitted. I pulled back my kimono's sleeve and flexed my arm for her. Years of carrying my keyboard to and from school, and the physical workouts I had received here had left me with quite the muscle tone. I smiled to myself as Azusa glared at me admiringly.

"Yes, yes, we're all very impressed, Thor." Ritsu rolled her eyes, and began dragging me along by the sleeve to wherever it was that we were going.

Yui hurried along behind us. "I'm not as strong as Mugi-chan, but at least I'm agile! But I was thinking, your sword is called Sword-chan, maybe my sword needs a name too. Murasame isn't a really cute name."

"Mura-chan, Same-chan?" I suggested right off the top of my head.

"What about Muri-chan?" Yui asked.

"Sounds cute, and is slightly fitting." I answered. "Where I'm from, if you told people you had a sword that could make it rain, and slice people in half from far away, they would indeed reply with _muri da_."

Yui drew her sword, its blade an orange color from the torches placed down all the tunnels. She cleared her throat then announced, "From this day forward, my sword shall be known as Muri-chan!"

Ritsu raised her long bow and cheered along, "Then my bow shall have the Varangian name of _TROLL VÅLDTÄKT_!"

"C-Clever." I gave an awkward grin at her choice of name. That translated into _Troll Rape_ essentially. Oh the images that conjured into my woefully addled mind. I guess she was trying to suggest that her flaming arrows were going to commit nonconsensual sodomy, but that wasn't the way I heard it. I shuttered once, and immediately began thinking of me consensually, and tenderly, eating a slice of cake.

It wasn't long after until we reached what appeared to be our destination. The caves led out to a large ledge outside, right against the treacherous slopes of the mountain. I saw in wonder that we had to be a full kilometer up now. We had been in those caves for much longer than I thought. Snow gently fell upon us as we entered what looked to be the frost giant's outdoor camp. There were maybe a dozen of them, dressed in tattered mail armor, covered with the furs of animals that could have probably swallowed me in one bite. They, for once, were not hostile towards us. Instead they glared at us with piercing apathy in their dark eyes. It was strange being so close to them, because they didn't feel real somehow. Four meters tall, light blue skin, they looked like they were real life CGI. I had to tell myself that they _were_ real, and so were those battleaxes lying against the ground.

Gitsu spoke up for us, "Geror, I have brought the ones that will give Freyr's gift."

"Well about damned time." The clearly female voice of one of the giants growled. Geror stood up from where she was sitting, scowling heartily at us. The giantess was a little shorter than her male companions, and did not wear the same furs that they did. Instead, the only thing that seemed to be armored were her massive, yet proportionally sized breasts, along with the joints of her arms and legs. Sort of like how Mugitsu was armored. Geror's long hair was a grayish blue color, speckled slightly with silver. Her skin was also a teensy bit darker than the rest of the giant's, making it seem bluer as well.

"You're immortal anyway; you could have waited a few years for all I care." Ritsu sneered. I cringed at her diplomacy.

"Not with the way things are between the Aesir and Vanir, Skirnir." Geror's voice was incredibly hostile. "In fact, the only reason I want that damned so sword is to give it to Surtur so his giants won't march against mine. As for you, humans, you have no allies in the upcoming war. I'll smile as your kind goes extinct."

"You seem to have forgotten about those people on our side… oh what were they called… oh yeah! _Gods!_" Ritsu laughed, a little too haughty than I would have preferred.

"H-Hey, let's not turn this into a racial battle!" I yelled. "I have Freyr's Sword right here, ma'am."

Geror took a step forward, her scowl increasing at the sight of me. "You… I know you! You're responsible for the death of at least a dozen of my kind!"

"I…uhh…" I began to shake. This was bad, like really, _really_ bad. I felt my eyes water up, because I had no idea how to reply to someone accusing me of murder. The worst part was, she _was_ justified in getting mad at me. These giants weren't just faceless bad guys, I realized, they had friends, family, and allies who were quite angry at me for doing what I did. I closed my eyes and felt tears run down my cheek, I was terrified right now. With shut eyes, I mentally readied Sword-chan in case she turned hostile.

Instead, Geror laughed, "Oh, Gods no, you can't be that warrior. You look like a pathetic, sniveling coward who just managed to somehow steal such a sword from the true warrior who slew my kind. Damn it, I feel sick just looking at you and your tiny, frail, although probably tasty body. Are all humans this weak and sickening?"

"Probably." One of the other giants answered.

"Looks like it." Another said.

"Sometimes." A third agreed.

"I…I…" I whimpered and willed Sword-chan to float before. "Just take the sword… don't make fun of me."

Oh God, everyone was watching me break down like this, even my friends…

The giantess continued laugh at me. "Your fear is palpable, you pathetic excuse for a sentient creature. How humans have managed to spread across Midgard like some kind of fleshy plague is completely beyond me. The day that this land burns away cannot come soon enough."

"_Just take the sword!_" I shouted at her, my voice coming off as more of a squeak than a shout.

She did so, willing the sword to her side. Seeing Sword-chan at the belt of such a monster made me feel physically ill. Sword-chan had been my companion for so long, and was more than just a piece of sharp metal. No, she had been my friend as well. All I could do was hope that she felt the same way, and wouldn't do any harm to any good people.

"You're all lucky that Skirnir is Freyr's dog." Geror growled at us, turning around to look away. "Were she not, I'd have my men here tear you all apart and be made into our dinner. Be grateful you have your gods to hide behind, you're you'd all be dead now. Get out of my sight before I decide killing your is a risk worth taking."

She didn't need to tell us twice. The four of us rushed away, with Gitsu walking behind us with this stupid fucking little grin on her face that I felt slapping off. My walking speed was pretty much a jog as I went back the way we came. If I ended up making a wrong turn, Ritsu or Mugitsu's unnatural pet could tell me.

"Mugi, slow down, we can't keep up with you!" Azusa cried from behind me. Her voice brought me out of the daze I was in.

I stopped, and slumped against the nearest wall. My breathing was harsh, and I was trying to keep from crying. "That's it, isn't it…? Sword-chan is now in the hands of a frost giant who wants all us humans to die."

"She said she was giving it to the fire giant, Surtur." Ritsu leaned against the wall next to me. "Surtur doesn't seem quite as genocidal, just… really, really angry. Like, the angriest person I've ever met. I think his diet consists of cups of pure concentrated 100% rage."

If I wasn't so upset, I would have made some joke about him drinking too much diet store brand soda, but I really wasn't in the mood.

"So Sword-chan will be in the hands of someone with anger issues. That's a whole lot better, Ricchan." I rolled my eyes.

"Look, for what it's worth, I really appreciate it." She said, sounding like she was only trying to calm me down. "You saved me a lot of trouble with this and I won't forget it."

"Whatever, it doesn't matter now. I'll just walk around Midgard entirely defenseless against the legions of things that want to rip me apart or just brutally rape me." I muttered, and began walking back again.

"You're not defenseless though." I heard Yui say. I stopped and listened to the sound of her wooden sandals get louder and louder until she hugged me from behind. In my ear, she softy spoke, "Look at Ricchan and me. We don't have magical flying swords and we get by just fine. Plus we're here to make sure you're safe, because you're our friend, Mugi-chan."

"But I'm scared." I sniffled, gripping her forearms tightly.

"It'll be okay, Mugi-chan." She whispered to me. "You have potential to be a powerful warrior too, so don't give up. I'll keep training you if you want to protect Azu-nyan."

"I do want to protect her. Train me then, Yui-senpai. While I'm in Midgard, I want to be able to save the people I love. Please, I'll do whatever it takes to be as strong as you or Ricchan!"

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Author's Notes #17:**__A friendly reminder that this story is rated M for a reason, and adult themes will start becoming more and more frequent as Mugi's adventures continue. And for what has to be the tenth time, thanks to everyone and reviewing up this point. Right now, _Mugi-chan: Chooser of the Slain _is about as long as a full length novel and only growing. I'm putting a rough estimate that this will end with somewhere between 25-30 chapters, with multiple endings._

_Also, _Muri-da_ is supposed to translate into "Impossible". Yui chose the name because it sounded cute, but the meaning fit. Kára is actually a Valkyrie from Norse Mythology too, known for having a "wild and stormy" personality from what I gathered. Helgi was from Norse Mythology as well. I'm trying to implement elements from the various poems written way back when._

_Thanks to ProfessorRude who has beta-read these last several chapters. He's got a K-On fic too, and it isn't awful._


	18. Taking Back The Sword: Part 2

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 18**

**TAKING BACK THE SWORD**

**PART TWO (Last part)**

"_DIE, HUMAN PLAGUE!  
>With blood and fire.<br>We cut them down.  
>Shining blades.<br>Quench their thirst.  
>The human plague...has no place here.<br>The human plague...shall be ripped apart."_

Translation of _Människopesten _by _Finntroll_

"Wait. What are we doing?" Ritsu stopped as we made our way to the exit of this horrible place. "I have the magical scroll to take us back to Sakuragyfli right here."

The rest of us stopped too. Azusa sighed loudly, "You could have told us that about thirty minutes ago."

"Yeah, these sandals make my feet hurt." Yui chimed in.

"That's why I go barefoot." Azusa pointed down at her feet.

I looked down at my own wooden sandals, and winced at the blisters that were forming below my heels. I turned to Yui. "Azusa-chan is on to something, it's no wonder why these went out of style in Japan. My feetsies are aching pretty badly right now. Maybe Mio-chan will be kind enough to give them a massage."

"I could do that…" I heard Azusa whisper.

"Fur lined leather boot master race here!" Ritsu boasted. I glared at her fur lined leather boots; enviously. "Well, let's stop wastin' time and get back to Sakuragyfli. I'm sure Mugi here is just dying to see her waifu."

"She's not my waifu…yet…" I pouted at her teasing. I could have sworn I saw a raincloud over Azusa's head for a moment, she looked several degrees unhappier. Maybe it was worth taking up her offer on massaging my feet, since it sound like that would cheer her up. However, something caught my eye, a passage branching in a direction we hadn't taken. It looked familiar, like I had somehow gone down that way before. Strange purple runes that didn't look trollish at all lined the walls of the tunnel. They more or less just stood for "entrance", but I didn't know the language. I looked over at Gitsu and asked, "Where does this lead to?"

"The lower caves." She answered, just as stupidly pleasant as ever.

"Who made these runes, giants?" I then asked.

"No, dark elves." When she said that, my heart skipped a beat. Those had been in my dream and these caves certainly looked a lot like those ones too.

"Y-Yui-chan, remember my dream?" I quickly asked her.

"Yeah, how weird!" She nodded. "If Mio-chan and that blue sword were here, it'd be even weirder.

Gitsu made a face, like she had just remembered something. As spacey as ever, she said, "That's a strange coincidence, because our Onee-chan had a sword as blue as the sky, and came to these tunnels. We remember it quite well. Also, mistress has bonded her mind with mine currently. She wants me to say hello, and is angry because she is embarrassed to have me say that. She is also now frustrated because she cannot hide her thoughts because we are one. She is now also angry that I am telling you this." She flinched at nothing, and began rubbing her cheek. "Mistress slapped herself so that we may feel pain. I am glad to be hurt by mistress, what of you, Hirasawa, I know she has harmed you many times."

"Glad isn't really the right word…" Yui muttered, looking the other way.

I was a bit amazed by what was happening here. "Umm, hello, Mugitsu…" I awkwardly said. Then something clicked. That hadn't been Mio in my dream, it had been _Mugitsu_. That explained the blue eyes perfectly. I gulped once, and asked Gitsu a question, but was afraid of the answer. "W-What were Mugitsu and the other me doing down here anyway?"

"Oh, that's easy." She began, "You and Mugitsu were finishing your lifelong quest before you became Valkyries. Sadly, you were both killed."

I blinked. "Wait. What?"

"The dark elf you hunted killed you both. Mistress broke your fall, but you were slain soon after." Gitsu still sounded just as pleasant as before.

I felt my back hit the wall of the cave, and gripped handfuls of my hair as the world spun around me too quickly. "No… no… I couldn't have dreamed that…" My voice was little more than a choked exhale. "Those aren't my memories, that Tsumugi isn't me…" Tears of frustration began to build in my eyes. The confusion I felt was beginning to turn to anger because I was just that sick of not knowing things. I continued ranting to myself, growing ever more frustrated. "Whose dreams am I dreaming now? That other Tsumugi has nothing to do with me besides sharing my name, so why am I experiencing her memories? I don't understand!"

"Hey, Mugi-chan, it's okay, it was just a dream." Yui tried to cheer me up, gently gripping my left forearm.

"That was more than just a dream! Gitsu described it perfectly, like it was something that actually happened!" I snapped at her, harsher than I had meant to.

Azusa grabbed my other arm, gently as well. "Mugi, you look like you're going to burst into tears. It's okay, it's probably nothing really bad. Those memories aren't yours, and it's probably the work of some other force that's causing them."

"If that's true, how do I know if anything I remember is true?" I whispered, terrified of my own question. "What if I really am her and all of my memories of Japan and my entire life are fake?"

"My mistress knows of spells that could change all your memories like that." Gitsu so kindly informed me.

"Hey, shut up, Mugi doesn't need to hear that!" Ritsu shouted at her.

It was Yui who made me feel better. She pulled me into an awkward hug and shushed my tears away. "Shh… it's okay Mugi-chan, we all understand why you're frightened." She whispered, and stroked my hair like I was little kid. That simile worked because that was just what I felt like. "Yes, there _are_ spells like that in our world. However, magic like that leaves traces of what is called _arcanite_. If anyone used magic that strong on you, I or someone like Mio-chan would be able to tell right away. Mugi-chan, you're Mugi-chan and no one else. No matter what some dreams are making you think."

"Oh God, thank you for telling me that, Yui-chan." I yanked her into a squeezing hug. "It's terrifying wondering if your whole life has been a lie up to a certain point. I feel better now, but, I'm still confused about my memories."

"We'll find out what's causing them." She assured me.

Gitsu began to wonder aloud, "We're wondering if Onee-chan's sword is still down there. It was able to shine with holy daylight that harms dark elves, and turns trolls to stone. Certainly none of them would be able to retrieve it, and they are there to stop any other adventurers from going that low. We thought of looking ourselves, but we feel unworthy to take our sister's sword, after taking her life. We've already stolen enough."

"Turns trolls to stone, how?" I asked her.

"Simply by shining, which makes it an infinitely helpful weapon." Gitsu answered. "The sword was made by one of the remnant old gods when we were still humans. He was slain and the sword was cast down to a mountain far away. We sought it many years later due the many legends that surrounded it. They said it was chained to the ground with fire that couldn't go out. The lands around it were engaged in constant warfare, and the caverns leading down were completely infested with monsters. It was rough, but we managed to get it. I believe the sword could still be down there."

I smiled to my friends, "Why don't we go and see if it's still there? Maybe Gitsu is right, and it's still sitting there, and the trolls are afraid to touch it. If I can't have Sword-chan, I should at least have some other massive edge over the monsters here."

"Oh, Freyr forbid you actually have to work to become a warrior like the rest of us." Ritsu rolled her eyes in disdain towards me.

"I think it's a good idea." Yui stood with me. "Mugi-chan should be able to have a strong sword to help her. I have Muri-chan, so she should have something like that too."

"I'm going if she goes too." Azusa also stood with me.

"We can lead the way." Gitsu offered.

Ritsu still didn't look happy, "You four are forgetting one thing: those are the lower caves! The stuff down there is _baadddd_! We're looking at the top of the food chain for trolls, and all sorts of things that would want to eat us, or even worse."

"But you and Yui-chan would be there to keep us safe." I told her.

"We're not invincible, Mugi!" Ritsu was getting angry.

"I'm going either way." I crossed my arms, completely adamant.

The ranger with the yellow head band slammed her fists into her thighs in frustration. "Fine! I'll go because Mio would kill me if I let anything happen to you idiots! We'll rush to where the sword is, use its holy whatever to keep us safe, and I'll magically get us home. Hopefully I can leave Gitsu to be torn apart by trolls while we're down there."

"That's a little harsh." I frowned.

Gitsu was still smiling. "I hope I die that way. It would make mistress upset, and then give her an excuse to kill Skirnir and possibly Hirasawa and the small one. That would make mistress happy."

Ritsu grabbed Gitsu's collar and pulled her close. "I hope Mugitsu can hear me in there. Because if she does decide to snuff me, she gets to deal with Freyr wondering why his right hand girl is gone. Not to mention I have friends in high places. High places being Asgard." She pushed Gitsu away and looked at us. "Mugitsu isn't hurting any of us. I promise."

Gitsu stood there laughing to herself. We just ignored her.

"Can we break for a bit?" I asked.

"Yes please!" Yui quickly sat down against the wall and yanked her sandals off. "Ahh… my feet can breathe again!"

I sat down next to her, sighing in relief as I pulled off my sandals as well. I wiggled my toes and somehow felt better, even after what happened with Geror. My mood was happier and I knew I had Yui here to thank. The idea of having a new sword that could protect me did wonders to boost my courage. Sure the trip down there would be horrifying, no doubt, but it was all stuff I could easily repress. Heck, I couldn't even remember the name of that thing that was in the graveyard now. I looked to Azusa at my right and asked her, "Azusa-chan, my feet are killing me, would you please-"

"Yes, gladly." She cut me off before I could finish. While her hero worship towards me made me feel a bit uncomfortable at times, I was certainly glad to get a foot massage out of it. I squirmed a bit, ticklish to the touch of her fingers against my feet. It made me giggle just a little bit.

"Getting massage from Azu-nyan… I'm jealous." Yui pouted.

Ritsu sat across from us, rolling her eyes. "You two are hopeless. 'Let's rush blindly into the scary caves right after this girly stuff!'" To pass the time, she retrieved two drum sticks from the magical back at her belt, and drummed off her knee. I felt a bit of nostalgia at watching her do that, and judging by her tapping foot, she was drumming the snare roll that came with the solo of the song _Don't Fear The Reaper. _

I was surprised by just how proficient Azusa was at this. I had expected her to just kind of awkwardly squeeze my feet, and was silently holding her to the standards of professionals. She knew exactly what she was doing, her thumbs expertly relaxing my tense and weary muscles. I let out a sigh that was almost a moan, "Wow you're _really_ good at this…"

She giggled, both blushing and smiling at my compliment. "Just one of the skills you learn as a bard. You have pretty feet too, and I work better when I'm motivated."

"Why thank you, Azusa-chan. If only I had money to leave you a tip." I smiled too, and patted her head. She smiled back again and continued her heavenly work. If someone saw the look on my face alone, they'd guess that Azusa was performing sexual favors on me.

"Mistress reacts that same way when I perform my services." Gitsu threw in, because it was her job to make everything awkward. Azusa stopped briefly, and then continued. It wasn't long until she had suitably relieved my right foot of all its aches, and moved onto the left. As soon as she began, I could hear the joints near my toes pop and crack. It felt good in a guilty pleasure sort of way.

"Do you do fully body massages?" I asked in a dreamy daze.

Azusa stopped for a moment, squeezing my foot tight like my question had surprised her. "I… You mean like… full body like… _naked_?"

"Oh boy here we go…" I heard Ritsu grumble.

"Mugi-chan looks good naked." Yui said in a totally non awkward way. "She's like Azu-nyan, because her body doesn't look like a cutting board from battles. Ricchan and I have so many cuts and scars that we look like the piece of wood that Ui chops up potatoes on."

"Hey, I like my adventuring scars!" Ritsu boasted.

I nodded at Azusa's question, "Yes, but I could always put a towel on if you're uncomfortable with me like that."

"No, that's not it…" She lowered her voice while blushing so hard I was afraid her nose was going to bleed. "Just, when you mention a full body massage, I can't help but think of b-breast massages too."

"Ohhh boy." Ritsu said again.

I looked down at my breasts and hummed. "Hmm, I think it would be a good idea to limit a massage like that to just the back of me. I'm sure Yui-chan would like a massage like that though."

Yui smiled wildly at that, "I heard that makes your boobs bigger! Azu-nyan, I accept your services!"

"My services aren't for you!" Azusa shouted at her, gripping my foot way too hard.

"Ow-ow-ow-ow!" I winced. Thankfully, she let me go.

"S-Sorry." There was a noticeable sweat drop on her face at that.

**DOWN BELOW**

Those vibrations we felt before were back tenfold now that we were heading down into the lower caverns. I could tell what the source was: loud, pounding drums from deep within the mountain. The walls of the winding tunnels leading down were carved with those same dark elf runes. They were a series of faded, slightly glowing directions to places such as barracks, guard outpost, levorotary, quarter master. I assumed that these dark elves ruled this are back when the other Tsumugi and Mugitsu had come down here. Gitsu led the way, but I felt like I could have found the way down by myself. The air grew swelteringly hot, forcing me to finally take off that blessed ring. As soon as I did that, I felt much cooler, but sweat was still running down my forehead, and my hair was getting frizzy.

As we delved further down, the notion that I could have navigated this place alone without Mugitsu became absurd. We passed countless other tunnels branching off in every direction. The ceiling became high in places and we passed over and under bridges that connected this vast network of caverns. Not only that, but we passed a variety of trolls, but thankfully we were still in the 'neutral zone'. They ranged from fat, skinny, big noses, small noses but were all equally ugly and smelly. I felt like I would desperately need a bath after this.

Eventually we stepped into the largest cavern of all so far. It had to have been a hundred meters wide, and half that distance tall. This place looked like some kind of makeshift underground market. Trolls, giants, and even a few humans manned and visited between crude stone and wood. The items for sale ranged from food I wouldn't ever touch, strange idols, and plenty of arms and armor. There were also a few pretty women chained up near one wall. In the bustle of chatter and noise, I made out the phrase "pleasure slave" in the troll language. I just assumed they meant to say "show girl".

"Hey!" I heard a man, a _human_ man, shout towards us in Varangian. "Gitsu's back!"

With that, several other men cheered as well. Rushing up to us from the market stall they were at was a group of what looked to be Infantry Breakers. They had the lower half of the uniform, but were shirtless from the belt up. Like the rest of the soldiers, they were a good two meters tall, and had more than enough muscle showing to ruin a girl's panties. I had to wonder what they were doing down here.

"Hello again, everyone." Gitsu greeted them in her standard robotic tone. "This is the sister of my mistress, and her three servants. Onee-chan, this is Johan Poulsson of the Infantry Breakers."

"Sister?" I blinked.

"Servants?" Ritsu raised an eyebrow, being the only one other than me who could sort of understand Varangian.

"Pleased to meet you four then!" Their leader, who was the biggest out of them, joyfully said with his hands at his sides. "You're the sister of her mistress though? We hear her go on about that woman all the time."

I just smiled and didn't deny it, "Yes, Gitsu is very fond of her. I have to ask, how did you come to be friends with her?"

"Well, me and my boys here are in charge of diplomacy with many of the troll tribes for Varyag down here. We can't keep them all in line, but we do our best. We found Gitsu here lost in the tunnels trying to find someone named Geror because the directions she was given were out dated. She had wandered into the lower parts here and out of the neutral zone, and probably would have been caught by something else. We invited her to stay with us, and she turned out to be a great card player and an even better ale drinker."

Gitsu smiled at the story. "I'm very good at bluffing."

Johan laughed to himself. "Gods, yes you are. Gitsu here has a personality that's just infectious, doesn't she? But I have to ask, what are you doing down in these caves anyway."

"They wish to visit the old dark elf ruins to search for something." Gitsu answered for me.

Now Johan looked surprised. "That's… pretty far down. It's where those cisterns the trolls dug all lead to if I remember right. From what I hear, it's a cesspool. I mean, not figuratively, but _literally_ a cesspool. Hardly seems fitting for a lady."

"Do you know if a shining blue sword would down there?" I asked him.

He thought for a moment. "Maybe… there is a mound of rubble that sticks out of the sewage like an island. I only remember it down there because it was surrounded by trolls that have been turned to stone. They only do that under daylight."

"That sounds exactly like what we're looking for!" I gasped. "Oh, thank you Mr. Poulsson, you've very helpful!"

"Haha! No problem sweetheart just be careful going down there. It really, really isn't safe." He warned.

"Trust me, we will." I assured him, and then turned to friends to give them the good news. "It sounds like we have a real shot at finding that sword from my dreams! He also said something about a cesspool, but he was probably just kidding around. Let's go and see if we can't get some real directions to that place."

"I told you, I know the way." Gitsu said again.

"But we don't know if that way is perfectly safe." I reminded her. I noticed that more and more eyes were turning to us, like we were some rare attraction. In a place like Midgard, I would have rather been invisible.

"We think you should trust us." Gitsu crossed her arms, but still seemed as pleasant as ever.

Azusa brought up another point, "What if the people, or trolls, here give us misinformation?"

"Hmm, that's true but…" I stopped for a moment, and then felt stupid. "I could just ask Johan, he said he's been down there."

I went and did that, and not only was he able to give us directions, but let us use his map. He marked the way down there with red ink. The place looked like a maze on paper, and there was no way we could have gone down there otherwise. Even if Gitsu had been there yesterday, I doubt she could have recalled the way. It was just too complicated. He left us there for a few minute while he went to retrieve that map, and by the time he had returned, there were even more people and creatures glaring at us. Were we that out of place?

Conversation between us quieted down, and I listened in to just what these monsters around us were saying. They didn't seem to believe that any of us spoke their language.

I tuned into a conversation and heard one troll say to another, "Look at dem gits boss. Deys be carryin' 'round all sorts o' shinies."

"Roight, but but de big bosses say we can't nab it from dem while dey're still in the neutral place."

"We dun even know if dhese twats are ever even gonna leave de neutral place eitha!"

_That_ caught my attention. It was three smaller trolls holding a blunt conversation with a much larger one who had skin that was grayer than green, and a massive rusty axe on his back. I also realized something: The troll language was just English with an obnoxious, yet broken, British accent.

"But what if dem twats know ow to use dem weapons, den what boss?" One of the small ones asked. To which another small one replied,

"Look at 'em you bloody nob, dey're just like all dem other gits we've stomped on!"

"'Ey! Me cousin got 'is bleedin' arm 'acked off by some wanker who looked like a git. Sometimes a git who looks like a git ain't a git!"

I blinked in surprise at just how many ways there were to insult someone in English. Still, I wasn't about to stand for this. I turned to my friends and told them, "Everyone, that group of trolls over there looks like trouble. I think they're trying to rob us, but it's really hard to tell with all the slang. What should we do?"

"Hmm…" Ritsu scratched her chin. "While normally the correct course of action would be to give them a flaming arrow lobotomy, we can't do that here in the neutral zone. If they follow us into the dangerous parts of the lower cave, other trolls could join the fight. Without Freyr's Sword or Yui able to slice them from far away, getting into a fight could be a problem."

"Is there any way to tell them off?" Azusa asked.

"I could try, politely." I offered.

"What would you tell them?" Ritsu asked me, skeptically.

"I'll tell them we have no money and don't want trouble." I replied.

"I can help too!" Yui piped in, and then gave us an example in English, "_Where are very delicious cake shop?_"

"Cute, but not really helpful." I smiled at her. "Let me take care of this, since Mugitsu really helped out with this enchantment." I cleared my throat and stepped bravely over to those trolls.

"Uh, boss, one of de gits is comin' over 'ere." A small one warned. The large one just stood there stoic and silent. While the small ones were human sized, I only came up just past the waist of the boss one.

Focusing my mind, I was able to speak in English, "Oi, excuse me mates. I was wonderin' if you four would kindly leave me an' my friends alone. I don't think you realized that I can understand you just fine."

"It talks!" One of the trolls gasped.

"That would make it a good slave!" Another decided.

The boss was still silent.

I sighed, and tried to give a friendly smile. "Look 'ere, I'm really not trying to be a tosser 'ere or nothin', but I really don't like you sayin' things like that. We dun want our things stolen, and I certainly don't want to be a slave. So I'm askin' you nicely to bugger off. Wait… sorry, I didn't mean to say that last part. I just want you guys to be nice and leave me 'lone, alrigh'y?"

Speaking to them in that obnoxious accent wasn't intentional. The way this enchantment seemed to work was both fascinating and mind boggling; and of course extraordinarily useful.

A bit to my surprise, the biggest one replied. His voice wasn't like the squawky, high pitched ones of his underlings; it was deep, growling, and deliberate. He raised his hand slowly, and grunted, "No."

"No?" I blinked. "Please, sir, I'm trying to be reasonable."

"There is no reason with humans." He growled.

I blinked again at his sweeping generalization. "Sir, I-"

"_Sir_ is a human term." He cut me off.

"Then what should I call you? You can call me Mugi."

"_Joutro_." The troll answered with a grunt. "Joutro the Undying. You, small human, have sealed your demise by walking into troll land."

"We didn't mean to trespass, and isn't this a neutral zone?"

That last part made him flare his flat nostrils in anger, which caused me to flinch back as step. Raising his voice, he growled some more, "Neutral is a human term that weak ones such as yourself created to hide behind! You use that to infest our land with your fleshy plague!"

"All I want is something that was made by humans." I replied, my voice quaking. "It w-was lost, b-but is the property of h-humans. It's a sword that-"

"You seek the The Sword Of the Accursed Sphere." Joutro growled.

"Accursed Sphere?"

"The sun." He clarified. "The blade that burns and warps the flesh of my people at the very sight of it. Part of me would be glad to see it rid of, and gone off our land. The other half knows how humans are. You would take it, and use it for war because you are too weak to fight otherwise. I know humans, you cannot fight up on fair ground, so you hide behind your enchanted weapons and evil spells. I will not allow safe passage. As soon as you leave these safe grounds either into the mountain or out of, you will be set upon and torn limb from limb."

"I…" My words were stuck in my throat. I took a deep breath, and tried to speak bravely, "What would it take to let us pass? Humans aren't all bad, I promise. My actions alone are driven purely by kindness and the love I have towards my friends. Please, Joutro, tell us how we can reach some sort of agreement."

Without hesitation, he replied almost eagerly, "Fight me alone, both with weapons of our choosing. Do this and prove that your kind has some sort of honor in them. I am a troll, so do not hold back in any way. Any wounds you inflict will mend themselves. I will decide if you have won."

"You would kill me before I could even raise my sword, Joutro." I shook my head slowly, and recalled that image of a frost giant making short work of me. "There must be something else, I am no warrior."

"No safe access for cowards." He snarled, making me flinch back again.

I heard someone else say something. It was Yui this time, speaking in slow, accented English. "Hirasawa Yui will be her champion."

"Yui-chan?" I turned to look at her. Her face was dead serious, and she reminded me of the melancholy Yui in more ways than one. "You speak-"

"I do." She interrupted, in that monotone from before. "Not very well, but I do." She stepped in front of me.

"But what about what you said-"

She cut me off again, "That was a joke." Now she was speaking to the troll leader. "Joutro, I am Hirasawa Yui, Sentinel, who knows no magic."

"You wish to be the champion of your companion?" He stared down at her.

She gripped the hilt of Muri-chan, and shrugged the sleeve of her yukata back to expose her forearm. "Yes. I will not see a friend hurt. I will fight you."

"Wait, Yui-chan, don't do that!" I gripped her shoulder. She shrugged me away, and looked back with cold eyes.

"No." She said in a way that tugged at my heart. "The Sentinel's job is to protect humanity from what would see it hurt. I am to do that, now. Please, stand back with the others."

"Wait, don't-"

"I said stand back." She cut me off again. I did so, frowning at seeing the old, scary Yui again.

Ritsu and Azusa a rushed to my side, with the former asking, "Wait, what's going on? I don't speak Collective enough to understand what you're all saying."

"Joutro the troll there said they'd kill us as soon as we left the neutral parts." I quickly informed them, "He said that he'd only let us go if one of us could beat him alone. It's to show that we're honorable and strong or something. Yui-chan volunteered to fight for us."

"Her and not the person with the flaming arrows?" Ritsu raised an eyebrow. "Then again, firing those in a room full of trolls could be problematic…"

Azusa rushed past me to Yui, grabbing at her arm. "Wait, no, Yui, you can't do this! He's twice your size."

Yui gently pushed her away, and replied in something closer to her normal voice. "Don't worry Azu-nyan, I've faced demons bigger than him, with magic too. This will be nothing. Please, everyone stand back."

Azusa stepped back, clearly worried about our friend. I gently pulled her close to me, and rested my hands on her shoulders as we stood watching together. Ritsu was at our side, looking more curious then worried. Yui drew her sword with a metallic _whoosh_. The constant chatter of the room stopped for a moment as trolls, giants, and people began forming a circle around us. The three of us moved towards the crowd, stopping just before them, and gave the two combatants plenty of room. Joutro grabbed the massive axe off his back, and it was more than enough to make me cringe. One swing from that could chop any person cleanly in two.

I hated this. This whole fight seemed incredibly pointless and Yui was in danger. I whispered to Ricchan, "If anything goes wrong, you'll cover her, right?"

"You didn't even have to ask." She playfully elbowed me. I felt a bit better. I mentally willed Sword-chan to… oh… right…

Yui and Joutro paced around each other, weapons drawn and faces twisted into focused scowls. I was scared for Yui, and prayed to any of the gods in this world that would listen to an outsider that she could prevail over her enemy. Joutro was the first to move, lunging forward with grace and speed I didn't expect. He swung his axe horizontally, at head level. A surge of relief washed over me as Yui ducked under it into a crouching position. From there she leaped at him, blade ready to strike at his knees. He met her attack with a kick to the stomach. His powerful blow sent her rolling back away from him a good five meters. Yui, thankfully, landed on her feet, clutching her tummy with her free hand. Her knees shuttered once, but that was all.

The audience around us cheered at her being kicked. I was too gripped with fear for her to make any sort of noise. I had gone from resting my hands on Azusa's shoulders to hugging her in my arms, and resting my chin on her shoulder. I was using her as both a security blanket and something to hide behind.

Joutro came at her again, swinging his axe with powerful and wild slashes. Yui dodged each one, gracefully leaping out of the way or ducking just in time. She feinted an attack, raising to strike, which prompted Joutro to hack down at her vertically. I squeezed Azusa tighter and almost looked away, because I was afraid she was going to get cut in half. Instead, she nimbly leaped away again, causing his axe to slam against the stone below. As he was raising his weapon again, Yui slashed quickly down at one of his wrists, removing the hand.

The massive troll howled in anger and pain, awkwardly raising his great axe with one hand. Dark, greenish-yellow blood sprayed out in thick, goopy torrents from the stump of his wrist. It was a little gross to see some splatter against Yui's nice clothes. The trolls watching all shouted and booed at her. She only hesitated a moment before running at him again, weapon readied. It looked like she had gotten cocky and let her guard down, because she was knocked back by Joutro smacking her in the chest with his wounded arm. Blood splattered against her more, and she was sent stumbling back. I mentally shouted at her for getting hit with such a slow attack. She should have been able to evade and counter that easily!

Her stumble gave the troll a chance to _stab_ at her with his axe. The metal blade awkwardly jabbed against her forehead. I winced as I heard her shout once in pain. Since stabbing with a two-handed axed while using one hand wasn't really effective, all it really did was give her a cut on the temple. A thin line of red ran down her face from the wound. It only deterred her for a moment. The beginning of the battle was repeated as he swung his axe again, and she ducked right below it again too. Like before, she lunged forward, and he went to kick her, but this time she was ready. His foot met the pointed tip of her katana as she stabbed through it. He howled in pain again, and fell on this back with a mighty thud.

Yui leaped on to him, stomped across his chest and pressed the tip of Muri-chan against his neck.

"You've lost, Child of the Cave." Yui gave a slight smile. She looked incredible, standing barefoot on a troll, splattered with its blood. I was sure Joutro was rather surprised. To be honest, I was too. The troll released the grip of his axe, letting it fall to the stone floor in a clatter. He muttered something only Yui could have heard. She nodded, and then leaped off of him, smiling. The audience around us was completely silent as she walked over to us.

Joutro stood up, and limped over to his severed hand. I watched with some degree of disgust as he picked up, and held it against the bloody stump to let it reattach. As he did this, he bellowed loudly, "The Sentinel and her companions are not to be harmed within these caves. They have proven themselves, but we shall see how they fare against the less civilized denizens."

The trolls of the cave all muttered to themselves, disappointed, and went back to what they were doing previously. The four small ones just stared at Yui in disbelief. I let go of Azusa, and sprinted towards my barefooted champion, pretty much tackling her into a hug. I laughed, and squeezed her as hard as I could, "You did it, Yui-chan! You were so cool!"

"Of course I did, he was threatening my friends." She said, breathlessly.

"Oh thank you, Yui-chan, I won't ever forget this!" I kissed her blood stained cheek several times to show how happy I was. Her cheeks were very kissable, and the taste of troll blood reminded me of fine wine. I then let her go, and faced my other friends. "We can go now, thanks to Yui-chan!"

Ritsu gave an admiring smile towards Yui. "I guess you do embody the Sentinel fighting style pretty well. You fight enemies three times your size, so you have to be cunning, smarter, and faster than them. And by Freyr's strange taste in women, you did all of that!"

Yui blushed, and was rubbing her cheek where I had kissed her. "See, when it's not Mugitsu, I'm not so bad! Heehee… Mugi-chan's kisses feel nice…"

I didn't really like the way Yui was staring at me. I felt a sense of dread at the thought of a competitive harem. That would have broken poor little Azusa-chan's heart. On that note, I was glad that Azusa didn't really seem to mind me and Mio being together, despite her obvious feelings towards me. At least, I didn't think she was upset at all.

"Less kissing and more sword hunting." Ritsu was there to stop the merriment. She playfully grabbed me by the hair and began hauling me off towards our destination. It was kind of funny, but at the same time kind of not since getting my hair pulled sort of hurt.

**DOWN FURTHER, AND LEARNING MORE THAN I WOULD HAVE LIKED…**

"…and then she walks out with the kanji for pumpkin written on her forehead, and I say, 'Well, it looks like her love _really was_ a stapler!'" I finished my joke, causing my three friends to burst into laughter. I smiled, glad my joke worked. Beyond that, I was glad I was able to lift the mood and dispel the sense of dread we were all feeling now that we were out of the neutral zone. The caves were darker here, more narrow, and branched off in many directions. We passed trolls that eyed us disdainfully, skulking in shadows, but there was no conflict. Yui had arranged the troll blood on her face to spell "killer" on her forehead. While that was morbid as hell, it certainly served as a decent warning.

"Should we really be laughing like this down here?" Azusa asked, still giggling though. "What if we catch the attention of something bad?"

"Then it gets a face full of flaming arrows." Ritsu happily answered, with her bow in hand the whole time. For how much she kept bringing those arrows up, I was beginning to wonder if she was trying to justify a pricey purchase or something. Of course, that was something I couldn't relate to. "You know guys, I think Mount Kval is probably _loaded_ with loot for the taking. If we had a good, balanced team, we could probably plunder it for all it's worth. Mio won't talk about it, but her, a friend of ours, and my brother and I once plundered this place called _The Keep on the Boarderlands_. It was a bit like this with lots of caves, and lots of monsters. For some reason, monsters always seem to have loot that we can make use of. Yeah, we should get Mio with us and really loot this place right."

"That actually sounds kind of fun." I said, but wasn't really excited about coming through and committing genocide towards all the non-humans. I had tried to tell the troll leader how that was _not_ what we were here to do. "Actually, Ricchan, that seems kind of mean to do."

"Since when is murdering and stealing every-" She stopped. "Okay, I get what you mean…"

We were walking through a narrower cavern that was high enough that I couldn't see the ceiling. Glowing fungus at the bottom of the walls illuminated the caves everywhere in a faint green color. I ended up in the front, and ended up walking through a patch of spider web that got all over me.  
>"Aww, I hate spiders!" I groaned, and frantically tried to get the web off of me. While I had a bit of a fear… or a lot of fear towards spiders, I wasn't about to be seen having a panic attack over them. Strangely enough, it more or less turned into a sort of liquid that dried almost immediately. It had a very strong smell, a smell I couldn't quite place. It wasn't bad… just strange, sort of like smelling fake fruit.<p>

I heard Ritsu sniff the air, "Gods, what's that smell? Is that coming from you, Mugi?"

"I walked through something, I think." I told her. "It wasn't anything bad, was it?"

"I don't know." Ritsu answered. "Yui, you know what that smell is?"

"Smells like…sex and candy." She replied.

I blinked, because that _was_ what it smelled like. I had been sprayed with cheap spider perfume that smelled like lollipops and my own womanhood. The things that seemed to happen to me just got stranger and stranger. I began feeling a little nervous, because I was starting to feel a little dizzy. Not only was I feeling dizzy, but I was feeling apathetic towards feeling dizzy, which I presumed was a bad thing. I was apathetic towards that too, which sent me into a spiral of the same two emotions. Apathy, and nervousness towards my apathy. Not only that, but I had this sudden urge to take all my clothes off.

I stopped and slumped against the wall, breathing heavily. Everything was too warm all of a sudden. "G-Guys… I feel funny…"

Ritsu was at my side instantly, holding onto my shoulder. "Funny, funny how?"

For some reason Ritsu looked unbelievably sexy right then. Had she always looked that way? Her forehead had this kinky shine to it, and her leather chaps looked so easy to just take off. I was also aware that I was uncomfortably wet between the legs, almost more than I had been with Mio. It was official, that stuff I had walked through was doing something _bad_ to me. Yet…I was just blissfully apathetic towards the implications. The dizziness was making things seem really surreal, distant, and unimportant. I decided that the best course of action be to take all my clothes off and masturbate before we continued. Despite how out of body I felt, I still knew that this was something I couldn't do around other people.

I stood up, feeling my knees trembling from lust, and stammered forward. Before I could do that, I glanced back and told my friends, "W-Wait here… I need to uh… uh… stuff."

"You need to… stuff?" Ritsu raised a cautious eyebrow.

"Uh-huh." I nodded.

"Mugi, I don't think you should be wandering off alone right now. You seem kind of out of it." Ritsu reached to grab my arm, which I promptly swatted away.

"P-Please don't follow me until I say it's okay." I whispered loud enough for all of them to hear.

"What's she doing?" I heard Azusa ask.

"Going to the little Valkyrie's room." Yui answered.

Good, that would throw them off while I went and quickly got this out of the way. I didn't think I had ever been so horny that I had to drop whatever I was doing to go relieve myself sexually. In fact, this was probably the only time I had acted on such urges like this, even through puberty. This was extraordinarily impure, but these were extraordinarily impure times. I happily skipped around a corner and looked for a shadowy nook in which to go through with this. All the while, I was ignoring that quiet, rational voice in my mind telling me how utterly stupid I was being now. That voice was ranting on about silly things like "traps", "you are drugged, Mugi", and "this is not a good place to be naked". I shunned that voice, because I simply was unable to heed its warnings.

I skipped on a bit further, wanting to get some distance between me and my friends so I could properly breathe loudly while I did this. The desire manifesting between my legs was only getting stronger, and I could tell my panties were going to need a good wash after this. Ahead, I saw a perfect spot, and quickly made my way over whi-

I got about half way there when something tightly wrapped itself around my neck. My eyes went wide as I saw just what it was: A white tentacle, about as wide as my forearm, sticky with the texture of sharkskin. It started at my neck and stretched seven or eight meters to the ceiling where eight red, glowing eyes were staring down at me. I knew those eyes, they were _spider eyes_.

That was it, I had been tricked by sexual desire to wander into a spider's nest. Embarrassment at such a thing made this awful, but my phobia towards arachnids turned this into a god damned living nightmare.

Panic exploded in me, and I began frantically kicking my feet and clawing at the tentacle around my neck. My fear kicked into overdrive as my feet were lifted from the ground slowly. It took me a moment to realize it, but this thing was reeling me in like a fish. That made me freak out more. I tried to scream, but the thing around my neck squeezed tight, making me choke audibly. Tears streamed down my face in what could have been considered waves. Being lifted and choked by the neck caused me to see stars, and I struggled to stay conscious as I slowly and painstakingly ascended.

I mentally screamed for my friends, but all I could do was choke. My gag reflex kicked in, sending an unwelcomed flood of horrible tasting bile into my throat and mouth… which made me choke more. What little remained of my sexual drive had prevented me from soiling myself, which was a very small miracle here.

I was pulled closer, and could now make out just what the hell was trying to asphyxiate me. It was a wonder that I stayed awake, instead of passing out from fear, when I saw this thing. A massive spider, easily the size of one of my family's cars, was perched on the ceiling, reeling me in towards its mouth. Below the eight glowing eyes, were two glazed fangs, presumably there to either rot my flesh or paralyze me so the spider could suck the liquid from my body. To make it worse, the thing was covered in hair. Welcome to Midgard, where your phobias are bigger than you, and try to eat you!

Lack of breath was killing me, literally and figuratively, because I couldn't even lift my arms at this point. Even if I could, I doubted I had the will power to chew my own wrists out to grant me a quick death.

But salvation came, a little later than I would have hoped, but it came. A twirling throwing axe flew through the air and severed that white strand pulling me up just above my head. I felt a new sense of panic, and at the same time relief, as I free fell for a moment. Azusa caught me, with my weight knocking her onto the ground, harmlessly though.

Gasping for air, and coughing horribly at the same time, I watched Ritsu turn that bastard spider into a flaming pin cushion. I crawled away from Azusa, now feeling safe, and allowed myself to vomit up all the bile I had been choking on. It was disgusting, and I felt disgusting as I had to wipe sticky strands of the stuff away from my mouth and nose. Yui was right by me, but I wished she would just leave me to lay here and cry alone.

My strength failed me, and I collapsed onto the floor (thankfully away from my vomit). Yui pulled me into a sitting position before picking me up, bridal style.

"It's okay Mugi-chan, the spider's dead. You're alright now." She cooed, carrying me back to safety. Despite her words making me feel _so much_ better, I was still crying and shaking all over. That thing had been so close to just biting into me… I had almost completely accepted that I was going to die. That was not a good feeling, and I prayed that I would never feel it again. That sense of crushing despair was something nobody should have had to felt.

Azusa was right behind us, saying, "Here, I have a towel with my things, and a canteen. Let's clean her up a bit."

"Right, good idea Azu-nyan." Yui replied. She carried me a good distance away from the spider's nest, then sat us both down so that my head was resting on her lap. The idea of having someone else clean bile and tears from my face was humiliating a best. With a cool, wet towel, they did that while I just lay there, too exhausted to move. My crying stopped, but I was still shaking.

A few moments later, Ritsu returned, looking just as relieved. In that short while, I found the strength sit up on my own again.

"Sorry we got there so late." She apologized, sitting down next to me.

"I'm thankful you got there at all." I said, with my voice raspy from being strangled. My neck ached.

"A minute or two after you were gone; Gitsu decides to mention that the Goliath Maneating Spider –_the type native to these very caves_- uses a sort of pheromone to send people into sexual overdrive so it can get them while they're disoriented. Too bad she couldn't have pointed that out right away. The thing was a little hard to put down, but it wasn't prepared to fight something it couldn't catch with its tentacle thing."

"Y-You saved my l-life." I stammered, yanking Ritsu into a hug as my strength continued to return. "I'm terrified of spiders; I can't thank you enough for this. I really can't." To add emphasis, I kissed her on the cheek, close to her lips.

She smiled, blushing like Yui had earlier. "Hey, don't mention… I mean, seriously, don't. Mio is probably more afraid of spiders than you are."

"You weren't in much real danger." Gitsu, who had I hadn't notice even being there, said.

Ritsu shook her head, "If I hadn't gotten there when I did, or missed with my axe, then she could have been Mugi-soufflé."

"No, I mean the Goliath Maneater doesn't actually eat people." Gitsu told us in this lecturely tone. I didn't like that tone of voice, and I felt like I wasn't going to like what she was going to say. "See, the male Goliath Maneater captures creatures from other races, namely sentient humanoids. He paralyzes them and then injects his seed into a place such as the stomach, bloodstream, or even the womb of a female, and coats them in a pheromone. This pheromone attracts the female spider which then finds the victim, eats them, and extracts the transported seed to fertilize her eggs. Many of these spiders will live their whole lives without ever meeting each other."

That was it.

Something inside me just snapped.

I stood up, wavering a bit, and stomped those few steps over to Gitsu. She was smiling at me, but immediately stopped when I grabbed her by the throat and threw her against the cavern wall.

"Why… would you tell me that?" I growled through clenched teeth, squeezing her neck down, but not hard enough to truly suffocate her. My voice sounded completely unlike my own now, after being suffocated myself.

"I… don't…" She choked. _I don't understand why you're upset_ was probably what she was trying to say.

"I could live with it trying to just eat me." I told her, feeling my blood begin to boil. "Lots of things have tried to eat me, or talked about doing it. However, to tell me that a spider, something I'm deathly afraid of, was going to try and _rape_ me is another thing. I could have lived my whole life not knowing that and been perfectly happy. But no, you had to come along and place this nightmarish fantasy in my head that's going to manifest every time I see one of those eight legged abominations. Thank you, Gitsu, thank you for ascending my phobia into something much greater and much worse."

With that, I shoved her away, and felt like punching something. Nobody said anything, or even looked at me.

"Umm…" Ritsu muttered after a couple minutes of silence, and everyone avoiding eye contact with me. "S-Should we keep going, or just go home?"

"I'm not going back empty handed after that,_ no_." I immediately replied. I looked over at Gitsu, who was sitting alone, hugging her knees with her smile gone. Instantly, I was overwhelmed with guilt about hurting her. I had gotten angry and directed it at her, when it was my own stupid fault for letting myself fall for such an obvious trap. I made my way over towards her, and was met with fearful eyes. I had to quell the urge to flinch at the way she looked at me. I hadn't meant to hurt her; I was just upset over the whole spider thing.

I crouched down next to her, and tried to seem caring. "Gitsu, are you okay? I'm so sorry!"

"We're not hurt." She nodded, smiling slightly again. "We are also sorry as well and… understand you now. Emotions such as fear are hard to relate to and sympathize with. Mistress, and therefore I, do not fear anything. We had forgotten that normal humans experience stress in situations such as that. You may hit may hit us again if it pleases you."

"Don't even joke about something like that!" I was a little upset that she'd even suggest something like that. To show her that I wasn't mad anymore, I gave her a quick hug, and then helped her to her feet. I looked at everyone and gave a brave smile. "What are we doing just sitting around? Come on, we have a magic sword to find!"

A round of cheers and we were off again, following that map. I smiled, laughed with them, and marched onwards into the caverns down. In inside, my mind was screaming for home. I didn't want to be there, I wanted to be home in Japan with my parents. I wanted to sit under the kotatsu with my mother and watch a cooking program on our ¥153,400 television. I wanted to take a nice, two hour long bath. I wanted to visit a very delicious cake shop and browse for sweets to buy for the Light Music Club. I did _not_ want to keep running into danger and things that could break me in half between their fingers. I wanted to be the Mugi who played keyboard with her friends in a club, not the Mugi who traveled in the land of dragons and magic spells.

With all the impossible things I had seen, was it so impossible to think that someone could send me home with magic?

**AT THE VERY BOTTOM**

This time, I was in the _middle_, instead of the _front_. One encounter with a spider that used humans a medium for reproduction was enough to make never want to take point again. I was already trying my best to permanently shove these memories out of my head.

"Gitsu, I have a question." Azusa spoke up.

"We will do our best to answer."

"The legend I know says that your mistress and your sister died because the Aibureidons feared them. You said that the two of them died here. Why were they in Varyag?" That was a rather good question, I thought.

Gitsu was reluctant and playing with her fingers as she replied. "We… it's a long story. Mistress and her Onee-chan had a long mission, one that consumed most of their life. The climax was here, but, mistress doesn't like talking about it. Did you dream far enough to know how it ended, Tsumugi?"

"Mugitsu grabbed onto the _other_ me, and I think she broke her fall." I answered.

Gitsu nodded. "Yes. Mistress went and…" She stopped. "I'm sorry, we cannot tell you more. Mistress doesn't like talking about it."

"I understand." I assured her.

Azusa walked next to me, and said, "Do you think Mugitsu sacrificed herself to save her sister?"

Gitsu spoke before I could. "I said that my mistress doesn't like speaking of it. She doesn't want you to talk about it, or even think about it."

It was then that the five of us walked into the largest chamber yet. A massive cavern illuminated by a rainbow of glowing fungi. The smell of sewage graced my nostrils, and it seemed to be coming from an underground lake a ways to our left. That lake hadn't been in my dream, but it had probably had over a thousand years to form since then. By the smell, I judged that the trolls here were using at a dumping area. The water smelled worse than the beaches of Queensland when my family and I visited Australia. I wondered if this water had sharks in it too. It probably did.

"This is it, it looks like." Ritsu said, stepping in before us.

"Looks like the place of my dream." I was right behind her. There were crumbling pillars of obsidian sprawled about in some sort of pattern I couldn't decipher. Dark elf runes were littered everywhere; on the floor, walls, and pillars. They glowed a faint purple and seemed to be keeping track of events and accomplishments. Some examples would be, "Battle of Kettech-nyar won!" or "One hundred slain under Mordrith!" None of them were about happy things like, "Alice's birthday cake was great!" or "The sky was pretty this day!"

The thing that stood out the most was the mountain of rubble ten whole meters high. Around it were weathered statues of trolls, and blacked bones from all sorts of creatures.

Gitsu nodded in comfirmation. "We are certain this is the place. May we step out? We don't like the impact it has towards us."

"Take your time." I told her, and began walking towards Rubble Mountain with Ritsu. Yui and Azusa kept a little ways behind us. We got closer, and I saw a thin beam of light, only about a centimeter wide, shining upwards to the ceiling. It was at the top, which meant I would have to get my hands dirty climbing up there and digging to it.

Walking through the bones and statues was creepy to say the least. The stone trolls were so lifelike that I expected them to come alive at any moment and attack us. Besides the sound of the underground lake's water trickling, the cavern was eerily silent.

"I guess coming down here wasn't a waste." Ritsu seemed surprised. She took my hand, and helped me keep steady as we climbed up the rocks. Azusa and Yui stayed below. "Good call, Mugi, this sword is gonna rock, I just know it!"

"Couldn't have done it without you." I told her as we climbed up and up. I slipped once or twice on loose rocks, but Ritsu made sure I didn't go anywhere. The relief of finally making it to the end was making me feel giddy and talkative, so I immediately engaged Ritsu in conversation. "Ricchan, tell me about yourself."

"Huh, tell you about what?"

"Just…I don't know, I don't know much about you. You're a good friend, and I like being around you, but I don't know where you came from, where you've been, or anything about Satoshi."

"How do you know my brother's name?" She glared at me, both confused and a little skeptical.

"The Ricchan from my world had a brother too." I explained. "I only met him once, briefly. But, come one, tell me about yourself! I want to learn Ricchan 101!"

She gave a defeated sigh, but smiled. "Okay, I guess I can tell you a bit. I'm just a little taken back. Nobody has ever really asked about me before. I was born in Aibureido, in the same city as Mio. She was a noble, and my family was upper class, and we were childhood friends. She wasn't like the other noble girls, who were all vain and would make fun of me for being a tomboy. She was shy, and didn't look like she had many friends, and we just naturally bonded. We really connected when her family learned she was a mage, like her mother, and I learned I had developing psionic powers. That really gave us something we could both relate to and understand. We were about ten years old each when Sakuragyfli got inherited to her father, and I left my family to go with hers. See, her father had this adviser named Lusefarian, who is like top mage, like maybe even better than Mugitsu. He was tutoring Mio when she was little, and I came along because I hoped I could learn a few things about these psionic powers. Long story short, I did, learned how to travel between worlds and all that. That made me a good messenger for gods, so Freyr picked me up. During that, I trained with the militia because I wanted to protect Mio and impress her. That's about I guess, and look, we're at the top."

We were. Now we'd have to start moving these rocks away to get the buried blade. She and I began doing this, which wasn't particularly easy, and I found myself asking, "What exactly are psionics? How are those different from magic the magic that mages use?"

"I don't really understand it myself, either." She replied with a shrug. "It's just something people are born with, and it's random. Mages usually require someone in the family to have the gift too, like it's in the bloodline or something. For my powers, I was just lucky. They're not like mage's spells though. Mages cast spells through strict, precise gestures and mental commands, while I just have to think hard. I can probably do anything Mio can if I tried hard enough."

"Even heal people and make giant swirling clouds of blades?" I asked in amazement.

Ritsu shook her head, "Yes and no. I usually stick to my world hopping powers and not much else. Lifting a small object, like a glass of water, with my mind gives me a splitting headache for hours. Actually changing the fabric of reality though, I can't even imagine what that would do to me. Sure, I could practice and build my mind up, but I'm happy the way I am."

"I like you just the way you are too." I assured her. We had dug maybe a meter down, and already I was exhausted. My hands were filthy and there was dirt all under my nails.

From below, Azusa called up, "Hey, how's it going up there?"

"It's gonna be awhile!" Ritsu called back down, and wiped sweat off her shiny, sexy forehead. The lingering effects from that spider's drug had given me a strange attraction to her forehead.

"Maybe we should ask their help." I suggested, and managed to pull a particularly large rock away. It tumbled down the pile, and I was immediately blasted with a ray of light. I squinted, but smiled at our progress. Through the cracks, I could see a shimmering blue. Several rocks tumbled down near Ritsu. I was impressed, here I was having trouble moving just one at a time, but there she was pulling three or four away. I wondered how that was possible with how large these were. Trying not to get distracted, I kept working, focusing on moving one fist sized rock at a time. The shimmering blue became so bright that I had to look the other way. I had thought it had been Ritsu pretty much throwing these rocks down the slope, but I saw now that she was sitting down and eating a sandwich, looking the complete other way.

I had thought she was right beside me. Now I was confused. Squinting still at the light, I tried to make sense of this. "R-Ricchan, I thought you were helping."

"Oh, I am, I'm just taking a small break." She said between bites. "Ui makes some really good sandwiches, so I made sure to stock up on a bunch before I left. I could marry that girl for her cooking." Ritsu then called down to Yui, "Heeyyy, can I get your blessing to marry your sister?"

"Only if I get to be a bridesmaid!" Yui shouted back.

"No, that's not what I meant." I shook my head in frustration. "I thought you were helping me, because rocks were moving a lot."

"I thought that was _you_ moving them." Ritsu blinked. "That wasn't?"

"N-No, I-" I stopped when I looked back at the shimmering blue. More was exposed, and I could now see the silver, gilded hilt protruding out. That hadn't been like that before I turned to Ritsu. "What in the world… It's like the sword is helping us dig it out."

"What are you going on about?" Ritsu glared at me, finishing her sandwich.

I ignored her, and grasped at the hilt with the intent to yank it out. Upon touching it, I felt the cold metal vibrate slightly beneath my palms; like it was humming with energy. Grunting, I yanked as hard as I could, hoping that yanking it out would make me queen of Varyag or something. The aura of light around it forced me to shut my eyes. At first it wouldn't budge, but after a few moments of tugging and trying to wrangle it out, it shifted slightly. Then Ritsu was at my side, helping me pull as well.

"On three, alright?" She said.

"Right!" I looked to her and nodded with squinted eyes.

"Okay…" She began, "One…two…_THWEEE!_"

We both pulled together, and the sword came free so easily it was like hadn't been stuck at all. This sent us falling backwards, and tumbling painfully down the rocks, or me at least. Ritsu was able to stop herself, but tumbled head over heels halfway down. I landed upright, but had a dozen new bruises to show off and a headache to match.

"Oweee…" I whined.

"Are you okay, Mugi?" Azusa asked me, coming up to check on me. I could see Yui snickering.

"Y-Yeah, nothing broke." I let her help me to my feet.

Ritsu was hopping down with quite the sight in her hands. A two-handed sword with a silver hilt and ruby pommel gem. The blade though… it was made of some kind of material I had never seen, or even dreamed of. It was shining blue, that was certainly, but seeing it first hand was incredible. The surface of the blade flowed like water and snowflakes combines, and there was a cold mist hovering mere centimeters around it. The bright glow had died down to a mere shimmer.

"This, Defender of the Cute, is yours." Ritsu said with a smile, and held the sword out to me with one hand. I could see her arm trembling slightly under its weight. I took it from her, hilt in one hand, with my other hand holding the blade up.

Touching the blade turned out to be an awful idea. It was like touching dry ice. My palms were greeted with a burning pain that made me immediately yank my hand away. That resulted in a few layers of skin being torn away too. I yelped in pain, and looked at my hand. The skin was indeed torn away, with speckles of blood poking through in a few places.

"Don't touch the blade." I warned my friends.

"Are you alright, Mugi?" The ever worrying Azusa asked me.

"Yeah, just stings a bit." I replied. With all my bruises and aching neck, I felt like I had been through a mosh pit in a _Lamb of God_ concert. "Sword's mine though… and it feels…" I swung the blade once through the air, away from my friends of course. "…it feels natural, like it was made for me. It's just the right size for my hands, comfortable to hold, and balanced perfectly."

"Sounds like the trip was worth it then." Ritsu smiled.

"Let's say goodbye to Gitsu and go home now." I indulged what I knew Ritsu wanted. I wanted to go back to Sakuragyfli too (which I did not consider home, despite what I said to her), and just lay down. With Mio, preferably, and tell her all about my adventures in Varyag.

We made our way back to her, with me limping and holding my new sword with both hands. Yui seemed rather silent, and I had expected her to be all over me and my new weapon. Instead she just looked at us admiringly.

Gitsu greeted us immediately. "You found it, we're so glad to hear that! We hope that _ Talvimiekka _serves you as well as it did our sister. Mistress believes that if her sister had taken it with them when they became immortals, mistress wouldn't have been able to kill… I cannot speak more."

"She didn't want to take it with her, although she had the option…" I raised the wintery blade so I could see into it better. "She wanted a new weapon to symbolize her new existence…"

I didn't know how I knew that, I just did. Like many other things. It was unnerving as ever.

It was time to say goodbye to Gitsu, and I had a feeling I wouldn't ever see her again. Saying goodbye to her somehow made me wish Eila was still around. I kept expecting to see her at Ui's Place, sitting at the bar, and polishing her knives while drinking vodka. There wasn't much left to do there. We said goodbye, and Ritsu read off the words the scroll that would return us to Sakuragyfli. It was just like all the other teleport spells I had been subjected to.

I could only wonder what the future would hold now with Mugitsu and Sakuragyfli.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**_No author's notes because I don't really have anything to say. _**


	19. Sex and the End of the Universe

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 19**

**SEX AND THE END OF THE UNIVERSE**

**(This chapter has some strong sexual content, by the way)**

_"But if I can't have her  
>Then why should I spend any more time in a world that's going to end pretty soon?<br>I need you now more than I ever did  
>I'll hand myself over for you"<em>

~_Cuts Marked In The March Of Men, _by _Coheed and Cambria_

Maybe I was too quick to judge Midgard and write it off as this horrible, murderous land of rapists and thugs. There were times were I found it to be awfully homely and cozy. Right now was one such time….

It was four days after returning 'home' to Sakuragyfli. Ritsu had teleported us into Mio's room, and given her quite the scare. Mio, angry about this, smacked Ritsu over the head _much_ harder than she had hit me for my gratuitous public display of affection. She didn't look like much, but Mio had quite the punch. Right now it was evening, and we were all sitting around the fire of Ui's place in blankets, enjoying hot chocolate. I had spent the day getting used to my new sword with Yui's help, and was exhausted because of it. We sat in a circle, with Azusa to my left and Yui beside her. Ritsu was to my right, sitting beside Ui. Mio and I were sitting together, sharing a blanket and each other's warmth. No magic rings, just each other.

"It is true what Yui said?" Mio spoke up.

"Is what true?" I asked.

Ritsu took this opportunity to brag, "Yeah, I _did_ shoot three trolls in the head in a row with these super awesome flaming arrows."

"No, not that." Mio said to her. "Ritsu, I have to point this out, this has to be the third time you've brought up those dumb arrows tonight. We get it, you had to sell vital internal organs and get a mortgage to afford them. We're all very amazed at your flaming arrows, Ritsu."

Ritsu pouted. "You're all just jealous that you don't have flaming arrows…"

"I know I'm jealous!" Yui was there to make her feel better. I wasn't jealous of flaming arrows, because fire wasn't something I was good around. I had nearly caused my house to go down in flames numerous times while trying to use the toaster. That's why we have a personal chef.

A bit irritated, Mio continued, "I was asking about Yui told me. How you all ran into a… Goliath… Maneater…"

I felt her tremble in my arms, afraid of the mere thought of that spider. I didn't blame her at all. Glancing over at Yui, I said through my teeth. "I thought we all agreed to mention that to her. Or ever bring up around me again."

"I just thought she'd like to know…" Yui muttered, looking guilty.

"So there _was_ a Goliath Maneater?" Mio asked, trembling some more. "I can't imagine that, they're supposed to be so big a-and f-frightening. What happened with it? Did y-you run away?"

"It was…" I tried to think of a way to describe the monster without scaring her. "It ended up alright…"

"It got a taste of my flaming arrows!" Ritsu brought up her arrows for a fifth time. "I pretty much saved Mugi's life!"

Mio clenched onto me, hiding under the blanket we were sharing. I heard her whine from underneath, "Don't tell me things like that! Why would you make Mugi have to go give her sword away _and _have to see a spider like that?"

_I did more than just see it…_ I thought, bitterly.

Azusa stepped in, figuratively, and said, "Ritsu, you're forgetting the most important part of that story. The part where Mugi bravely faced off against the horrible spider alone… with only her fists… and was in no danger at all!"

Ritsu blinked, then laughed, "Oh yeah! Right, forgot about that, I got carried away talking about these awesome arrows. Mugi held it off alone, and then I came in and stole the killing blow. It was kind of mean of me to steal the credit, I know."

Mio poked her head out of the blanket, still looking frightened. "M-Mugi was able t-to f-fight alone? Without weapons? H-How did you do that, Mugi?"

I stuttered, struggling to keep up with this glorifying lie. "I…uh… uh… Yui-chan is a really good sensei! P-Plus I don't think the spider was really ready for my attacks either. The Goliath Maneater doesn't actually eat men, or Mugis, did you know that?"

"Then what do they do?" Mio asked the ten million yen question.

"_Nothing!_" We all shouted in unison.

That was all Mio needed to know about the Goliath Maneater. In fact, I was perfectly happy believing my own lie. For now, I was content to sit with her in my arms, sharing this blanket, and this mug of hot chocolate. Ritsu and Yui swapped stories of their glorious battles, Azusa got mad at Yui whenever she said something silly; and things were good. In those four days after returning, my life had gone back to a routine with my friends, like in Japan. I was happy for it, and glad to be out of the way of danger.

Mugitsu's frost giants never came from The Wastes like the militia feared, but her undead army was a constant problem. Not a dangerous problem, but still a problem that kept the militia and Infantry Breakers busy.

The only other thing really worth mentioning was how I had to work a whole day with Ui cleaning dishes and helping prepare meals and drinks. I had sort- _accidentally_ broken one of her tables and chairs with my new sword after seeing a spider crawl across the floor. I seemed to have developed a personality quirk in which I would drop whatever I was doing and attempt to kill a spider if I saw one. I admitted that had been a little barbaric of me. My new sword had to be wrapped up since its cold blade burned skin (even through clothes) and I had taken the time to unwrap it just to kill that spider. The sight of the little thing just made me lose it. At one point I had seen spiders as our eight legged, harrowing little neighbors, but now I saw them as awful little abominations that all deserved to die. In fire if that was possible too. I remembered that my mother had once told me once when I was little, "_Tsumugi, I know spiders are icky and scary, but they serve a very important purpose in the environment. If it weren't for them, there would be all sorts of other bugs flying all over the place!_" Now I knew that as just a lie she told me. Spiders existed solely to be horrifying and give me something to hate with a burning fury that rivaled the intensity of the sun's glow. I wanted to stomp every last spider into the ground, burn all their webs, and see their entire species erased from this world and mine! I wanted to take a spider, have its legs torn off, and watch it writhe in agony as I laughed! I was also willing to extend this treatment to scorpions if they turned out to be giants here too.

I was beginning to think that the Goliath Maneater may have left a bad impression on me.

In my arms, Mio stirred a bit, and quietly said, "Mugi, it's getting late, do you want to head back to my room?"

I yawned, sleepier than I realized, and replied, "That sounds nice. Goodnight everyone, see you tomorrow. I like it when we're all together like this."

"Night you two, trying to get _some_ sleep." Ritsu smiled. For once secretly loving Mio, she was extremely supporting of us. That made me feel better, because there didn't seem to be a drop of bad blood between us. She was such a good friend.

"Nighty-night!" Yui waved as the two of us stood up, shrugging her blanket away.

Ui smiled and waved at us too. Azusa seemed to be interested in a patch on the floor in the complete other direction.

"Good night, Azusa-chan." I told her.

She didn't look at us, and just muttered in a low voice, "…Sleep well, Mugi."

"Azusa-chan, is something wrong?" I asked, taking a step towards her.

"Just tired, that's all." She whispered. Her eyes were closed.

I was beginning to notice that she didn't talk to me quite as much whenever Mio was around. During those times, her focus was usually diverted to Yui, or Ritsu. She only really talked to me or Mio if she was brought into the conversation. Part of me wondered if she didn't like Mio, but I couldn't understand what Mio could have done to upset her. The two had hardly ever spoken to each other.

Outside, the weather was _Sakuragyfli_. Freezing winds, painful cold, and fifteen centimeters of snow. I was about to go and replace my magic ring, but Mio stopped me. She smiled, and drew a magical kanji in the air, then held my hand with hers. The coldness around immediately disappeared as if I was wearing that ring. She smiled, and said, "The spell only works if you're touching me. So don't let go, alright?"

"Alright." I nodded, sheepishly.

We walked hand in hand, slowly through the night. It seemed darker than normal, and the Infantry Breakers weren't staring as much. That was abnormal, since starting at us was what they seemed to do best (besides literally breaking opposing infantry, of course). Mio gave a dreamy sigh, "I wish Ritsu had told me that she was going to spend a couple days adventuring with you. She had me write up the scroll of teleportation, but didn't tell me what it was for. I would have loved to go with you all, instead of being cooped up here by myself."

"There were a lot of scary moments." I admitted. "It's probably better that you stayed here where it was safe."

She didn't take as kindly to my protectiveness as I would have hoped, and squeezed my hand a little tighter. A bit flustered, she replied, "I can take care of myself though! I'm not a defenseless little girl!" She stopped, and relaxed her grip on my hand. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to yell at you… I just hate it when I get treated like this fragile little princess. Nobody ever seems to acknowledge those moments where my magic saves the day. Remember those slavers and our battle against Mugitsu?"

"I thought you didn't want to be singled out as a mage." I remarked.

Mio smiled at that. "I'm really inconsistent, aren't I?"

"Only a little."

That made her giggle. "I want acknowledgement from you and our friends, but at the same time, I don't want any special attention. I'm jealous of Ritsu for that. She's done so much crazy stuff; all of the militia respects her and treats her like one of the guys. Ritsu confuses me though, with how she acts towards me. For a while, she'd randomly act really nice, singling me out in these almost romantic ways. Then she went back to the way she used to act a little after our fight with Mugitsu."

"That's how Ricchan is." I smiled, knowingly. We were now walking up the slope to the castle. "Mio-chan, can I ask you for something?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"Can I kiss you?" I asked because beyond the cuddling under a shared blanket that night, there had been almost no intimacy between us outside the closed doors of her bedroom.

She smiled, but looked surprised, "Didn't I say you didn't have to ask?"

"You hit me that one time though…" I tried not to sound upset about that instance, but I knew it was written all over my face.

"Mugi…" Her face reddened slightly. "…that was only because you kissed me in front of my father's soldiers in clear daylight. I didn't hurt you did I? I'm so sorry if I did! If it makes you feel better, that wasn't even a fraction of how hard I would have hit Ritsu if-"

"It didn't hurt." I cut her off. "Just surprised me."

"Well… let me try to surprise you again." She yanked me into her arms and kissed me under cold moonlight. My arms wrapped around her and I overwhelmed with my own feelings. I wanted to burst from happiness every time we had a moment like this. My joy left me feeling bouncy and jittery. My love for her was the only thing that would make me stay in Midgard if I was given the chance to go home.

Our kiss ended, and we continued our walk. Mio looked up towards the star covered sky and told me, "The Mage's Court in Lesfain was yesterday night."

I stopped walking, and felt my heart sink. In a hollow voice, I asked, "W-Why didn't we go?"

Mio looked at me and simply smiled. "I thought about how much I really _didn't_ want to go while you were in Varyag. I would hate having to get all dolled up to act like a rich kid with a bunch of mages who all think they're better than one another. My old teacher was going to be there, but I can just see him some other time. Plus, I don't want to deal with other mages trying to charm you. We'll do something else together though, I promise. Something without any other mages."

"Well, when you put it that way, it does sound like it was good thing we didn't go." I agreed with her, not really knowing any better.

"I was doing some other thinking though…" She continued, "I don't want to sound like an extreme pessimist, but I'm a woman who thinks that Ragnarok is approaching. My lifespan is a tiny drop in the sea of time compared to the lives of gods, but I'm certain the end of the universe will happen within my lifetime. For all we know, it could happen tomorrow, or it could happen sixty years from now. I don't want to wait for things I want anymore, because I don't know how much time we have left…. So…" Mio's hand pressed up against between my legs, causing me to squeak from surprise. Her breath was hot in my ear, "I'm giving myself to you. Not tonight, but sometime soon when the time is right. I want this first time to special."

"I…I…" My brain couldn't form words because too much had been put on me at once. Nervousness, anxiety, and excitement all overwhelmed me. The idea of having sex with Mio at romantic place and time was both wonderful and frightening. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to adequately please her, or that I'd do something ether silly or stupid to ruin the moment. I loved her though, and wanted to do everything in my power to make sure her first time was absolutely _perfect_. If hers was perfect, then mine would be too.

However, her little tangent about the apocalypse didn't really sit well either. Something about your lover giving doomsday speeches really seemed to kill the mood.

"You don't have to say anything." Mio let go of me, but still held my hand. "I know you love me, and I know what you want me like I want you. You're also incredibly adorable when you're nervous."

I was blushing furiously now. Blushing made me feel embarrassed, awkward too. Mio began walking again, and I followed her by the hand. I was feeling so sheepish that I was afraid I would grow wool. Her proposition of love like that had left my head spinning.

"I'm actually glad that you don't have that sword anymore." Mio told me as we passed through the gates.

"How come?" I asked, still sounding sheepish probably.

"It keeps you out of battles." She answered. "I'm trying to find a way for you to be with me all the time without my father getting upset. Maybe I could hire you as my personal body guard or something. You could also be my hand maiden. I don't care, it's just a title, I just want to be with you. Now that you're no longer a capable warrior, I can breathe easy whenever you're not around. I'm always afraid that something will happen to you."

"I have Ricchan and Yui-chan if anything happens. I'll be alright." I assured her.

"Doesn't stop me from worrying about you though…" She sighed, and then yawned. "Sorry for chattering to you the whole way here. You're so easy to talk to, and I feel like I could say anything without you judging me… and the funniest part of that is how you're from another world."

"I'm happy you feel that way around me." I replied, yawning myself. I hadn't realized just how tired I was until now. I was ready to just close my eyes and fall asleep on the spot.

We went to bed together, with me cuddling up against her from behind. Despite how tired I was, I had trouble sleeping. Lying against her, feeling her heartbeat, feeling her warmth, and smelling her with every breath I took was driving my senses crazy. I was flustered, and all of a sudden couldn't wait for the moment when she gave herself to me. Soon, my mind was filled with fantasies of Mio burying her head between my legs, tongue drawing kanji over my eager clit as her fingers slipped in and out of me in rhythmic motions that had me quaking in pleasure. All of a sudden I was trembling, and incredibly wet. I slipped away from Mio to the edge of the bed and faced the other direction. I slipped my panties off and dropped them against the floor.

Naked from the waist down, the cool air against my moist sex sent me shivering. Part of me was a little nervous that Mio would wake up at me doing this, but the other part of me wanted her too. I glanced behind me at her, and saw in disappointment that she was completely covered by her blanket. She slept in only her panties, and I knew that a mere glimpse of her would be all it took to give me my creative muse in the art of masturbation.

Still facing the other way, my right hand crept between my legs and touched up against my burning slit. I trembled instantly at my own touch before I even made my way to my waiting clit. My index and middle finger grazed against my sensitive little pleasure bud, causing me to have to stifle a gasp. It had been so long since I had done this and I was completely unsure as to why that was. I bit down hard on my lower lip, and rubbed myself in circular motions. Trying not to make any noise was becoming harder and harder as I went on, increasing the speed and intensity of pleasuring my clit. I closed my eyes, and slipped my fingers further between my legs, penetrating past my wet lips ever so slightly. Only penetrating a fingernail's length, I slowly began using my two fingers to pleasure my virgin hole. All the while, my thumb was stretched upwards to keep my clit from getting lonely. Sadly, it was only able to give it a fraction of the satisfaction that my two fingers had been able to.

Closing my eyes and continuing, I was unable to contain a few squeaks and moans. In my mind, no longer was it my hand that was delivering me to this euphoric wonderland of pleasure, but Mio's instead. I pictured her giving me this ecstasy while her other hand was between her own legs. This fantasy sparked my already crazy libido, and I felt my juices flow just a little faster. If Mio wasn't able to hear me doing this, then she would certainly have been able to smell me. That smell of sex was over powering, but I was far too aroused and focused on this to be embarrassed by this.

Then the bed moved slightly, from Mio's side. I immediately stopped moving my fingers, and used my free hand to cover my naked lower half. My heartbeat exploded with nervousness as I felt Mio move closer to me. I guessed she had woken up and wanted to cuddle with me. That was better than her finding out what I was doing, but it would leave me still very horny. If that happened, I would excuse myself to the washroom and finish myself properly there.

Her touch nearly made me jump out of my skin as her hand firmly cupped my breast from behind. Mio embraced me, gripping that breast tight, and whispering in my ear, "_Do you want me to help you finish?_"

"B-b-but…y-you s-s-s-said…" I stuttered, struggling just to make out those three words.

"I won't go that far, I'll just help along up here." Her finger pinched my nipple, causing me to moan out loud. Feeling no incentive to wait any longer, my hand instantly began its lovely work between my legs, picking up right where it had left off. My fingers pushed in as far as they would go, stopping just before the barrier that was there for Mio to break. That was all I needed though.

Mio's fingers played with erect nipple, gifting me with pleasure that I didn't know existed there. Her mouth was against my neck, biting and sucking in a way that felt good, but also was painful. I found myself in love with every second of it. All these things stacked on to one another to send me off into this dreamland of sexual happiness. No longer having to worry about being quiet, I let my gasps and moans emit freely.

My walls began clenching against my fingers and throbbing from ecstasy, with juices spilling against the hot skin of my bare thighs. With every passing moment it was feeling better and better, until that pleasure was all I could think about. Before that night, I had no idea that such an experience and sensation was even possible to cause with just my fingers.

It peaked, exploding inside my sex at the glorious apex of my climax. My orgasm sent my hips bucking slightly as Mio held me tight. Suddenly, my heartbeat slowed, and my lust began to subside like a passing storm. I was breathing hard, still trying to comprehend what I had just done. I raised the hand that caused so much damage, and saw it was slick with moisture, with a clear strand of it between too fingers. I wiped it against the inside of my thigh, wincing at the sexy mess I had made down there.

In my ear, Mio whispered once more, "When that first time comes, it's going to be like that, but so much better."

I almost didn't believe her, because I couldn't see how that could have been topped. If she was right though, then I probably would be running the risk of becoming a sex fiend. Part of me still didn't understand why I had been able to get off like that. All the other times I had masturbated had just been sort of low key or even awkward behind the locked door of my room. It had always felt just sort of wrong. Maybe tonight had been the result of months and months of sexual build up. Either way, it had been incredible, even if I was a little sorry about the mess. I would probably have more to be sorry about tomorrow, since Mio had left quite the hickey on my neck.

I rolled over so I was facing her, and kissed her once on the lips. No words were spoken between us past that. We slept together, and with her heartbeat as my lullaby, I wasn't awake for much longer.

**CAN'T KEEP A GOOD SENTINEL DOWN**

I slept in late the next morning. I woke up and was shocked at the clock in Mio's room. It was the first time I had seen a clock in this word, and had never noticed it in there. Furthermore, the clock said I had slept in until ten o'lock. I had never slept in that late in my entire life! They said that lots of sleep brings a child up well, but I was an adult now! What was even worse, was that my panties from last night were gone (hygiene here and lack of decent methods of washing clothes had me wearing panties and other articles of clothes for days at a time). Not having anything else to wear, I was forced to don a simple red linen dress, and go without underwear that day. It was not the first time I had done it, and I fashioned myself a bra from strips of fabric; samurai style. I wondered if Mio would think it was sexy if I told her I wasn't wearing any panties. Yui would probably find it funny.

Speaking of her, I ran into her nearly as soon as I walked out from Mio's room. It was better to say that _she_ ran into _me _though. Yui turned a corner and collided with me, her hands giving my boobs an accidental squeeze. I assumed it was an accident.

"Good morning, Yui-chan." Since I had the stature of a panzer tank, her running into me didn't knock me back in the slightest.

"Morning, Mugi-chan, sorry for running into you." She scratched the back of her head, smiling.

"No worries. Why were you running towards Mio's room so quickly? She's already awake and up."

"I was looking for you, actually." Yui grabbed me by the wrist and began taking me somewhere. We passed the door to the bathhouse, which I desperately needed to visit after what I did the night before. Yui looked back at me, and gave an evil grin, "Heheheh, I think I can guess what you and Mio-chan were up to last night."

My eyes went wide, and my cheeks burned red. "Y-Yui-chan, t-that's none of your business! And we're both saving ourselves so we're both still virgins. Sure we kiss and cuddle, and stuff like that, but it's nothing really explicit!"

I _really _hoped nobody besides her heard that.

Yui looked at me and just blinked, "R-Ricchan told me to say that."

"Oh." I said, feeling a little silly now. "Sorry to go off on you like that then."

"It's okay!" She cheerily replied, taking me outside. I realized I had forgotten my ring and that it was a very cold morning.

"W-Where are we going?" I shivered.

"To see Sanya-chan, she said she had good news for us." She replied, leading me to the direction of Sanya's room. This would be the first time I would get to talk to Sanya after everything that had happened with me getting Eila killed. I mentally cringed at the image of Eila's smiling face. I remembered an instance of just seeing them talk together at Ui's place. It was just Sanya telling Eila about her night patrol, and Eila happily praising her for every last little thing. The idea of taking her away from Sanya made me feel like a monster.

With guilt a plenty, I walked into her room with Yui. It still smelled the same, but that purple, magical glow was gone, and the place just seemed dim. All of Eila's things were still there, but looked untouched. Sanya was sitting on the bottom bunk in her normal uniform, and greeted us with a smile and wave. She looked genuinely happy about something, which made me feel a little less horrible about getting her best friend murdered.

"Yui, Tsumugi, I have something I wanted both of you to see." She was smiling wider. Sanya reached into one of her belt pouches and produced a fist sized flat stone with the shape of a shield carved into it.

Yui saw that and looked interested, "Who's it from?"  
>"Eila." Sanya looked so happy she could burst.<p>

Not understanding, I asked, "What is that was it something of hers?"

Sanya nodded, "It's a _letter stone_, a magical item that lets Sentinels send real life messages to other people. We mostly use them for family and friends, and use paper and ink for important documents."

Yui's face lit up with a smile that matched Sanya's, "Wait, does that mean…"

"Yes!" Sanya exclaimed. "I already watched it, but she had stuff to say to you and Tsumugi."

I was amazed. Did this mean Eila was _no longer dead_? The prospect of that was hard for me to swallow, because I remembered her dying so vividly. I remembered all the blood and her hand going cold and limp in mine. I couldn't imagine her just walking around again like it was nothing.

Sanya set the stone on the ground, whispering something to it. It began to hum and glow, bathing the room in dim blue light. Above it, a perfect illusionary image of Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen appeared. Beneath her was white sand that looked like it was poured over the carpet in this room. It was a very convincing illusion to say the least. She was different though, with fox ears placed on her head like she was in an anime and a matching black fox tail as well. Eila was wearing a blue and white striped bathing suit, like she was at the beach. This was this world's equivalent of a video message.

"Okay… is this thing on?" She said to someone, "Alright, cool… no you can't be in this with me… I'll tell her you said hi, just go away while I'm doing this. *Ahem* that's better, alright, hiya Sanya, and Hirasawa too, it's me again!" Her image waved happily at us. "It turns out being able to see the future makes you a valuable operative and I was able to get the body of an angel right away! I'll be back with you two in a couple months, because I have to relearn all my magic again. They say when I'm done, I'll pretty much be triple the mage I was before with this new body. Anyway, I've missed you so much Sanya and hope you weren't too lonely without me. I promise I'll make up that time for you! I'll do whatever it takes!"

I could see Sanya smiling to herself behind the image of Eila.

Eila continued, "I feel really bad about leaving you alone, but like I said, I promise to fix it. When I get back, we're doing all the night patrols together, so you'll never be lonely again. Oh, right, I only have a little bit of time with this thing since _somebody _took the letter stone with more time to send something to their family. Anyway, when my spirit was… out of body… I asked if my sister's spirit ever showed up in one of the worlds of the afterlives. They said yes, and I asked if she would get a new body like me, or already had without us knowing. They said…they said she had passed, and no she wouldn't be brought back like me. So, it looks like Aurora really is dead. One more reason to get back at Mugitsu. This brings me to my next point: to you, Hirasawa. I heard that you spent a fine evening in Lutvjarg dining with our enemy. This is _not_ subtly like we talked about! In any case you know what to say if an operative comes and asks about it, or the scroll. Don't screw this up, alright?

"Okay, now there's one other real big thing I want to say before I go. Tsumugi, if you're here watching, you and I are going to have a little talk when we meet again. A little talk about how to identify cursed items, and about choosing your pets wisely. Needless to say, I'm a little pooper peeved about what happened to me, and I'm going to make sure you don't screw up again. Don't be surprised if I get a little swingy with my fists either. And Sanya, this is just some inside talk between the two of us, nothing you need to worry about, 'kay?"

Her image flickered for a moment.

"Oh, looks like I'm running out of time here. Miyafuji and the others say hi, and all miss you. Nobody's been sent below yet, so when we get back, we'll be one big family again, okay? Can't wait to see you again, I lo-"

She disappeared abruptly, the blue glow of the stone disappearing too. My eyes were reluctant to believe what was presented here. Someone brought back to life with some kind of magic, something like what happened to Jesus. Yui and Eila were nothing but happy, and not in the least bit surprised. In my world, Eila coming back like this would have made her the child of God, savior of the people, and a predominant religious figure. This made me wonder if my other my friends, or even myself, could be brought back to life as well if tragedy fell upon us. The thought of the dead coming back to life under any circumstance made me nervous, because I had seen far too many horror movies. Last thing I needed was Eila turning out to be evil and throttling me in my sleep.

"May I excuse myself? I need to take a bath before the day begins." I stepped back towards the door. I didn't know what it was; I just had a _really_ bad feeling about Eila being back. Not that I wanted her to be dead, but something just felt wrong.

Yui and Sanya said a quick goodbye to me, and I went to get clean and smelling good. After the night before, I felt lighter than air, but at the same time, a little unnerved about what Mio said about this 'end of the world' thing. I didn't want the world to end, because that would probably include me too. Above all else, I wanted to know where my panties went. The rest of my clothes had been there, which meant nobody was taking care of laundry. The thought of some thief roaming around with my dirty panties was both creepy and strangely flattering.

**NO TENSION BETWEEN FRIENDS**

An uneventful, pleasant two days passed. The Infantry Breakers were clearly restless and itching for a real fight, but Mugitsu was not providing them anything more than undead. That day, I felt like there was something I needed to talk to Ritsu about; something that I had been dwelling on. I really needed to know if she was okay with Mio and I being together. She said she was, but I was still worried that she was harboring ill feelings towards me about it.

I found the hair banded ranger sitting atop one of the battlements of Castle Sakuragyfli at midafternoon. I had to use a slippery metal ladder to get up there with her. The battlements were designed for archers to use, but I had never seen anyone up here until now. Ritsu sat over the edge, legs dangling below, and using a carving knife to carve a bow out of a tree branch.

"Hey Mugi, what's up?" She asked me as I took a seat on the cold stone beside her.

"I wanted to hang out with you for a little while." I replied, watching in amazement as she so expertly crafted herself a longbow.

"Cool, I always got time to shoot the shit with you, as they say. I wonder who made up that phrase…" Ritsu stopped carving for a moment, thinking. "Anyway, how're things going for you, Mugi?"

"Fine, thank you." I replied, hoping she would never say 'shoot the shit' around me ever again.

"That's cool to hear. I noticed you've been pretty quiet lately, or ever since we got back. Speaking only when spoken too and stuff. Is everything okay?" Ritsu asked me.

"As okay as things could be for someone in my situation." I took a deep breath. "Sometimes all I want to do is go home, and other times I really like it here. The monsters are something I could really do without."

"We'll find a way to get you home." Ritsu patted my back, giving me an encouraging smile. "Maybe we could even find a way to go between our worlds as we pleased. I'd love to meet this other Ricchan."

I giggled to myself, and really appreciated her words. She was trying to cheer me up, and it was working. I put my arm over her shoulder, and she did the same to me.

"…plus…" She added, "…if you got this Mio, maybe I'd have a shot with the one from your world. You've already proven that people from different worlds can fall in love. So who knows, maybe I'd have a chance."

"That's actually the main reason I came up here." I said in a quiet voice. "I've wanted to apologize for a long time now, about Mio. I know you really liked her, and I stole her away. Having to see us together too, I wish there could have been another way."

Ritsu just gave a quick laugh, playfully shaking me a bit. "I thought I told you I wasn't mad, Mugi. Yeah, I still have a bit of a crush on her, but it's not like I'm ever really fantasizing about her. You two are happy together, and I'm glad to see it. If you're wondering if I'm jealous, I'm not. I think Mio would be too clingy and too afraid to the stuff I'd want to do. Heck, I think me and one of the Hirasawa sisters would make a better match."

"You'd want to date Ui or Yui?" I asked in surprise. "Or even both at the same time?"

That sounded wonderful, and I could just picture it perfectly…

_"It's my turn to have Ricchan!" Yui would tug on her shared lover's arm._

_ "But you had her twice in a row earlier this week." Ui would exclaim, grabbing Ritsu's other arm. "Plus I made her cookies yesterday too."_

_ Ritsu would blush, sweat drop and try to say, "Hey you two, let's not fight. I like you both equally, so arguing won't work."_

_ "Then I guess there's only one thing we can do." Yui would let Ritsu go._

_ Ui did the same thing, and nodded. "You're right, Onee-chan."_

_ In unison, the two sisters would say, "We'll share Ricchan!"_

I smiled, thinking about how that was a perfectly reasonable and believable fantasy. That would leave poor Azusa alone though. I was sure there was someone for her though.

Ritsu bit her lower lip. "That wasn't exactly what I meant, Mugi. Ui's sweet and Yui's fun, but I don't think I could really date either of them."

"Well, why not?" I asked, because I suddenly wanted to see this happen. I wanted to see Yui and Ritsu fight back to back against a whole army of enemies, and then engage in steamy, hot, passionate lovemaking afterwards while still covered in blood and sweat. I was sure there was nothing wrong with me for thinking that.

"Ehh…" She made a face, but it looked like she was giving it some thought. After a moment, she replied, "…I don't know Mugi; I just can't see either of them as more than friends. Plus, it looks like Yui has a thing for Azusa, or is just really affectionate towards her. Then there's how Azusa drools over you whenever you're around. Looks like we have a whole spiderweb of romance here."

She laughed at that last part, and I immediately looked around for a spider to kill. There weren't any, Ritsu was just using bad words around me. God, I hated spiders so much…

"I wish Azusa would like Yui…" I sighed. "It would better for everyone that way. I love Mio and nothing will change that. If Azusa really does like me that much, she's just going to be sad. I don't like making people sad, Ricchan!"

"I don't know what to tell you, Mugi." She shrugged. "I mean, from what I can tell, you're all Azusa thinks about. Whenever you're not around, she always brings you up saying stuff like, _Oh, wasn't Mugi so brave standing up against Geror_ or _After the Goliath Maneater, she just kept going like it was nothing, wasn't that amazing! _Or commenting on how beautiful you are, or asking me what kind of shampoo you use. It's cute, actually, and surprisingly not creepy. At least so far."

"Maybe I should spend more time around her." I mused. "But what if I did that and she ended up liking me more? But if I start becoming distant, she'll think I don't want to be around her. What should I do, Ricchan?"

"Just keep on doing what you're doing now." She told me. "Azusa hasn't said one word about being jealous or anything like that. Plus, I got her something to tide her over for a while."

"What do you mean?"

"Eh, forget I said anything…" She said with a wave of her hand.

"Oh, okay then."

While I was more than happy to be this heroic role model for Azusa, I didn't like her romantic interest. It was like I told Ritsu; I didn't like making friends unhappy.

**A SUBTLE DIVERSION**

The next day I decided that I was going to do what I had originally planned to do with Mio. Woo her for another girl. I was absolutely positive that if Azusa told Yui she liked her, then they would make a happy couple. I did a bit of thinking and decided that Azusa would be happy with Yui if she gave her a chance. Yui seemed like the type that could take good care of her, much better than anything I could give her. Azusa was almost like me in the way that both of us didn't really have anything to call our own. Mio provided me clothes, shelter, and food now, and Yui was apparently doing the same for Azusa.

I caught the little twin-tailed bard going for a walk after we ate dinner, or whatever it was called here. She walked alone around this time of day, right as sunset started, and I found that it was a perfect opportunity to talk to her by myself.

"Azusa-chan!" I got her attention as I walked up next to her. "Mind if I walk with you for a bit?"

"Of course not!" She replied, quite happily. "I'm just walking to the edge of the Everrape Forest and back. It's always really peaceful, and lets me think easier."

"What kind of stuff to do you think about?" I asked, conversationally.

"My parents mostly, like about where they could be." She replied. "Sorry if this is too personal, but do you miss your parents from your world?"

"Every day." I sighed. I wish she hadn't asked that. Thinking of my mother's soft, beautiful face or my father praising me was enough to send me into a gloomy mood.

"R-Right…" She could probably tell that she hit a sore spot with that. "I'm sure we'll find both our parents in time. All it would take is a good mage to do some magic. Come on; show some of that optimism you always have!"

"You're right; I just have to be patient. Things will work out for me in the end." I smiled, only half believing my own words. "Things will work out for all of us. But there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"What's on your mind?"

I realized I had no idea just how I was going to bring up my case about her being with Yui. I had put literally zero thought into this, and was now feeling brainless for it. Go me. I didn't want to be blunt, so instead I ended up being awkward.

"Yui-chan really seems to have taken a liking to you." I replied, sheepishly. Me acting like this was become far too routine.

"She has, hasn't she?" Azusa giggled. "Always Azu-nyan this, and Azu-nyan that. It's embarrassing, even irritating at times, but she's so great to have around. I wish I was better at sword training to impress her. She joked that pretty soon it'll be _you _teaching _her_. Not only that, but Yui pays for all of my expenses here, and insists that I let her do it. She also goes out of her way to be with me too, insisting we go play all sorts of games, like the ones that kids play. In fact, we're together most of the time now, and hardly ever do anything serious."

"How come you guys don't include me?" I asked, feeling left out.

"I asked her to, and she said, _Mugi-chan's too mature for stuff like this_." She answered. I sighed, hating being mature. "Yui likes to act like a little kid, which is kind of endearing to me, but I think she wants you to see her in better light. She'd rather you see her as this tough-as-nails Sentinel soldier."

"That's no fun…" I pouted. "I'm bored most of the time; I'd love to be included with you two!"

"Really?" She seemed surprised. "We thought you liked being alone, so we don't bother you."

"But I hate being alone!" I blurted out. This was almost frustrating that people were misjudging me so much. I wasn't trying to be distant; I just… was sort of shy. I didn't tell Azusa this, but I felt horribly alone most of the time. The times when I wasn't with my friends, I was usually sitting by myself sipping tea and waiting for the next time I would be with them. I always assumed that everyone was off doing important things, but now I knew Azusa and Yui were just off playing and hanging out. I was terribly jealous of them.

"Don't you have Mio?" Azusa asked me.

"Some of the time, but her father doesn't like her being far away from him." I explained. "Since he sees me as just some peasant who'll fill her head with dangerous ideas, I only get so much time to be with her."

"I didn't know that…" She said in a much quieter voice. "Okay, I'll definitely make sure that you're with us from now on!"

I gave a little cheer and rewarded her with a quick, tight hug. Her cheeks flushed red as I let her go. The ice had been broken, I could now move onto to the second phase of my plant. Casually, I asked her, "Do you ever wonder if Yui likes you as more than a friend?"

"Sometimes." She shrugged, not looking surprised by my question. "I wonder that because of how much she goes out of her way for me. I think she just likes having someone to take care of. Lucky her, I'm not exactly back on my feet right now. Homeless, jobless, jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Such is the life of a bard…"

"If she does like you like that, I think you two would be very happy together." I commented.

That caught her by surprise. "I-I'm happy t-the way things are n-now… Be-besides, if Yui were my _wife_ things wouldn't be all that different. Except she'd touch me more and I'm not sure I'd really like that. I'm already a bit of a burden to her; I don't think she would want to take that burden wherever she went."

"You're not a burden though!" I nearly shouted.

"Even if Yui doesn't mind, I still feel bad for making her take care of me." Azusa sighed, and then turned around since we had reached the edge of the woods. "I know you just want me to be happy, but I'm fine with how things are now. Thanks, Mugi."

"I'm glad you're alright then." I said, feeling like I had accomplished something here. I wasn't sure what, but that feeling was there. "If Yui does really like you though, as in more than a friend, I think it's something with pursuing."

"Maybe…" She whispered, looking down towards the ground.

The rest of our walk was in silence, but I felt like I had made more progress getting them together than I did with Ritsu and Mio. I sighed, dreamily and just pictured how cute Azusa and Yui would be together. They would go on all sorts of adventures, Yui always valiantly defender her Azu-nyan from all sorts of scary monsters. After each battle, Azusa would say something like, _Yui; you saved us again, let me reward you with a kiss!_ Then Azusa would stand on her tiptoes and kiss Yui, who would blush and kiss her back. My heart fluttered at this perfectly reasonable fantasy.

We were close to Ui's place, and Azusa awkwardly struck up one last conversation, "S-So, I heard your panties went missing… that's pretty crazy…"

"How did you know that?" I asked, tilting my head as well. "I never told anyone that."

"Eh?" She blinked. "I thought that… uh… well, as a bard I pick up on things pretty easily; things that other people wouldn't notice. Like how your panties disappeared."

"Wow, that's incredible!" I gasped in amazement. "Please tell me your secret."

"I…uh… uh…" She stammered, fidgeting a little. "I could tell by the way you were walking! It was a little different, a clear indicator that you had no panties!"

"Good eyes." I commented, and found myself wishing I had the panties in question here. It was far too breezy for my liking without them. As we returned to Ui's place, I asked her, "If you see them, could you… um… return them to me; covertly."

"Certainly." She nodded, nodding slightly.

**THAT NIGHT…**

Mio went to bed early, only a couple hours after my walk with Azusa. I was disappointed, because I looked forward to our midnight cuddles, kisses, and whispers of sweet nothings. I also believed anyone who didn't want to play with her boobs was just fooling themselves. They were simply amazing. But sadly, no boobs for me that night, and I found myself not sleepy in the slightest. So, instead of going to bed, I decided to sit on one of the fallen rocks on the path leading to the castle and just star gaze.

I didn't know if it was my imagination, or if there were just clouds I couldn't see, but the sky looked emptier. There seemed to be less stars twinkling that night. Looking up at the night sky, I began to wonder again if I was missing from home. If I was, I wondered if my parents were looking at the same sky too, lost as to where I could be. A tear slid down my cheek, and I prayed that wasn't the case back home. I didn't want them to worry about me, and I wished there was some way I could have let them know that their daughter was alright. Beyond that, I wanted so badly to show them this world and tell them about all the amazing things I had done. I wanted to see the look on my dad's face when he learned that I had killed a dragon, legions of undead, and dozens of giants all on my own. I also wondered what my mom would think if she knew how I loved Mio here. Would she support me being with another girl and be happy for me? I think she would have.

Without thinking about it, I stood up and walked towards the mountain path that led to the overlook of the valley; the valley where I had dealt with Poshkt, the undead, and those giants. Under moonlight, I looked up at the steep path and remembered when I had climbed in my pajamas with Yui. How long ago had that been? I had this strange urge to climb on up there and look down on that valley, for old times' sake. Plus, that was probably a good place to be naked in private… if I wanted to do such a thing.

I decided to climb on up, having to use my hands and feet to keep from sliding back down. There were plenty of adequate hand and footholds, and I was in much better shape than before. Every now and then I liked to use the mirror in Mio's room to pose and look at my muscular arms. I knew it was vain, but I loved being strong and looking like this. Not to mention, I must have lost five kilos here too. I was sure Mio wasn't minding the view at all.

Before I knew it, I had finished the 35 meter climb and was about to step over to the landing on the other side when I saw a peculiar sight.

Sitting where Eila had been when we came here together was none other than Mugitsu. She sat with one knee raised, the other out stretched, and her silver sword standing between them. The wintrily wind blew her night colored hair in one direction, and she was wearing her armor. Face apathetic, she looked up at me and nodded. "Good evening, Tsumugi."

"M-Mugitsu?" I blinked in surprise. "What are you doing up here."

"Waiting for you." She replied. I glanced over in the other direction and saw her serpent mount resting up in the rocks high above us. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that it looked at me hungrily with its four eyes.

"How did you know I would be here?"

"I lured you with a spell." Mugitsu answered with an answer I didn't like. "It was actually a pretty complex spell too. Good thing nobody pulled you away at the last moment, because then you would have been killed. It's a handy spell, forcing people to do some task or they die. I forced you to come up here."

"C-Couldn't you have just asked nicely?" I asked, my voice a nervous squeak. I didn't like it when she told me that could have just died several minutes ago.

She shrugged. "Yes, but I'm a mage, Tsumugi. I _have _to use magic when the situations allows for it."

"Oh, alright then…" I didn't really understand, but didn't argue with it. "So, why did you want to see me?"

Mugitsu leaned back, giving an exaggerated sigh, and laid on her back, arms splayed. "I'm bored, don't feel like waging war, don't feel like visiting other worlds, don't feel like killing anything, just want to have a conversation with somebody, _anybody_ so I don't lose my mind."

"You have Gitsu, don't you?" I offered, sitting down next to her. If she was just in the mood for an idle chat, I would oblige. In the dark, under moonlight, she looked a bit too much like a black haired, armored _me_, and I was just a little unnerved by it.

"Gitsu is me though." Mugitsu sighed, clicking the tips of her metal boots together. "She either does what I want her to do, or just does things to please me. It's handy, but it's boring. I like our night out together, at least that was interesting. I may have had too much to drink and probably shouldn't have kissed you, but I still had fun."

"Yeah, about that…" I went to say. "I think I need to say-"

"No, shut up, I'm talking now." She cut me off, rather rudely, "See, the problem with being me; I've already done just about everything that a mage can do. I could try ascending to full godhood, but by the time I did that, Ragnarok will probably come by and it won't be worth it." She pretty much just talked over me. "Basically I'm wondering if I can do something with you or your friends again one of these days."

"You're more than welcome to do that!" I happily exclaimed. "You'd make a much nicer friend than enemy. The only condition is that you'd have to promise not to make fun of anyone, hurt their feelings, or use magic in a bad way."

Mugitsu made a face at that. "Ehhh, now I'm not so sure about this. If I can't put everyone in their place with my obvious superiority, I'm not sure if it's even worth it."

"Can belittling others really be considered friendship?" I asked her, now a little displeased.

"That was a joke, Tsumugi." She sighed again. "Besides, we both know that I wouldn't fit in with your crowd. Stabbing Hirasawa, thrashing up the small one, and killing the militia mates of Tainaka has left a bad taste in all their mouths. Thankfully you and I seem to get along."

"I'm sure you could find a way to make it up to them for what you've done."

"You're the only one I'm interested in though." Mugitsu sat up, looking at me seriously now. "I appreciate the thought, but I don't care about your friends and they'd rather me be dead. I'm okay with that, because you're the only one I want to be around."

"T-That's sweet of you to say." I said, trying not to be nervous. I was fully aware that if she forced herself on me, I would be completely defenseless.

"You're the sister I once loved with my entire being, only remade somehow without me in the equation." She scooted closer. "That sister was my entire being, the only friend I ever had in my human life. Despite what she became later, I remember her fondly from back then. As you know already, I sacrificed my human life in the hopes of saving hers. Then after so long, you come along and make me relive all those memories. If my body had to sleep, I'd be losing it over this. I mentioned this before, but I'm tearing my brain apart trying to understand just why you're here."

"I don't know either, Mugitsu." I told her, silently praying this was going nowhere romantic. "I don't know what relation I have with your sister either. I see her memories when I sleep, and have had her emotions taken over sometimes too."  
>"In the end, I decided that it doesn't matter. Whatever you are, you're still Mugi-chan; the same name my sister called me my entire human life." She laid back down again.<p>

"Should I call you Mugi-chan then?" I asked.

"No, I'm just Mugitsu the Death Witch. No nicknames or honorifics, just Mugitsu." Mugitsu patted the ground next to her with her metal gauntlet. "Would you lay here with me so we could enjoy the stars together?"

"I… could do that." I agreed, trying not to sound as reluctant as I was feeling. I laid on the cold rock beside her, looking up at the black, star laced sky. All I could think about was Mio, and how I didn't want Mugitsu to do anything perverted to me. I already felt bad about her sloppy, uncalled for kiss in Lutvjarg. I heard the sound of metal against rock as Mugitsu shifted closer to me. She laid her head and arm against my bosom, and rested one leg over both of mine. Her attempt to cuddle with me was awkward at best with her armor, and being at least ten centimeters taller than me; more with her boots. I wasn't really consenting to this, and tried to say, "M-Mugitsu, I don't-"

"Shh." She cut me off. "Worry not; I'm not going further than this. Maybe a moment like that will come some other day, but for now I just want to lay here with you and look at these stars. Just let me sit here and pretend I'm someone else for a little while."

"Alright, I can do that." I smiled and whispered to her. She repositioned herself slightly, so that her head was just beneath my chin, and I put an arm over her. Mugitsu's armor as deathly cold, cold enough to make me shiver just a bit despite my ring.

But for a little while, it wasn't a misanthropic demigod I was laying with, but just a normal person who wanted the comfort of another human being. As I watched the sky above, I saw a star flicker out of existence. It frightened me a bit, but I said nothing, and thought about what Mio had said about this Ragnarok. I had only heard bits and pieces from her and other people, but they made it sound like all the gods were going to just duke it out and blow up the universe in the progress. I felt like a good mediator, and wondered if I could help them talk their problems out if given the chance.

I also thought about how the story Azusa had told me was incorrect. In her version, Mugitsu and Tsumugi were killed by their own people, but Mugitsu had clarified that they died fighting some dark elves on some important quest. I thought that if Mugitsu had willingly let herself die to potentially save her sister, than there certainly as something good in her. As I was lying there, albeit rather uncomfortably, I began to drift off to sleep.

Before I could really doze off, Mugitsu sat up, and stretched. I heard her joints popping like the sound of twigs snapping. As she stretched, she groaned, "I'm getting old…"

Sleepily, I tried to reply, "I thought you were-"

"That was a joke, Tsumugi." She rolled her eyes. "I thought something that you might like. You said you didn't want me using spells to harm people, and I got a spell right here that's both fun and harmless."

I sat up, wincing a bit as my back ached. "What does it do?"

"Lets us spy on people remotely without them knowing. Doesn't work on you for some reason, I already tried, and that Akiyama girl can block it out with her pathetic little magic ability. Other people, however, are completely defenseless against it. Interested?"

While slightly bothered that she had tried to spy on me, I had to admit that I was curious. Not just curious, but actually excited to see if that worked. My mind quickly worked to think of pranks I could pull on my friends using this. It wasn't too late, so most of them would probably still be up.

"I'm very interested!" I replied. "This sounds fun, how does it work?"

She drew a magical kanji in the air, her finger glowing faint silver as she did so. In front of us, a shimmering white circle appeared on the ground. It was maybe a meter wide, and glowed intensely for a brief moment. When the light subsided, I moved up to it and looked down. Through it, I could see me and Mugitsu from a bird's view. I looked up, and saw nothing that would indicate surveillance. The circle was basically broadcasting the footage from an invisible video camera. I thought this was amazing, and wished I could do this at home.

"The look on your face says it all." Mugitsu chuckled, and scooted up next to me. "So, who would you like to look at first?"

"Ricchan!" I excitedly shouted. Mugitsu smiled, and drew what looked to be the kanji for Ritsu's name in the air. Much to my amazement, we were no longer the focus of this circle, but instead it was indeed Ritsu. From above, I saw her sitting alone in a room that looked to be at the castle. Her bed was messy, clothes were scattered everywhere, along with various weapons as well. She was in a nightgown with her hair down, looking like an entirely different person. In her hands was the same axe she had saved me from the Goliath Maneater with, and she was sharpening it with a whetstone.

After only a couple minutes, it became clear that she wasn't going to do anything else soon. Despite how much I liked watching her, I was excited to see what other people were doing.

"Can we see what Yui-chan is doing now?" I asked.

"Sure, it's not like I'm the one wanting to watch them." Mugitsu chuckled, and drew on up the kanji for Yui's name.

Yui was with her sister, sitting near the fire of the closed inn. Like Ritsu, they were in the nightgowns that served as pajamas, and Ui was brushing Yui's hair from behind. I bit my lip and had to contain myself from squeaking at their adorableness. Sadly, I was unable to.

"They're so _cute~_." I squeaked.

"Sister love, one of the few things in this wretched universe I don't hate." Mugitsu sneered in quite the unpleasant tone. "I think that's the one thing I really actually appreciate about Hirasawa. From what I've seen, she is very close to her sister, and would never hurt her. Their bond is… heartwarming."

"That's beautiful, Mugitsu." I remarked, assuming she wasn't being sarcastic.

She blushed at that. "Well, there's nothing saying that Hirasawa's Sentinel duties won't change her. I doubt their bond will even last that long, it's just nice to see now."

I giggled at her, "Mugitsu is afraid to show her soft side."

"Watch it, or I'll cast a curse to remove your ability to speak." She growled.

"That would be mean…" I shuttered. She wouldn't have actually done that though, right? "Hmm, let's see what Azusa-chan is doing then."

"I was hoping we'd catch them in some interesting conversations, or at least naked…" Mugitsu sighed, and cast the spell to let us spy on Azusa.

She got her wish, because Azusa just happened to be naked.

"There we go!" Mugitsu cheered.

I cringed, blushed, hated myself for looking at her like this, but just couldn't _not_ look at her. She wasn't just naked on her bed of furs, illuminated by candles, but was also enthusiastically pleasuring herself with two fingers. She somehow looked older with her black hair not up in twin-tails, and her small fluff of pubic hair there for me to see. As if seeing her masturbating wasn't awkward enough, what she was doing at the same time was even worse. In her other hand was what looked to be my stolen panties, which she had against her face. I wasn't really sure how to react to seeing Azusa masturbate and using my panties to get off. I really, really wasn't.

Meanwhile, Mugitsu was next to me laughing hysterically. She fell over, clutching her sides, struggling to catch her breath. I didn't find this funny at all, I found it… I didn't know what I found it! Part of me was so embarrassed that I wanted to cry, and the other part was completely flattered that she was using _my_ sex stained panties. Not only that, but watching her was also extremely arousing. I felt ashamed that I was looking at another woman beside Mio, but I couldn't help it. Azusa's cute little moans, the way her hips moved and her toes curled, the way her nipples looked like they were just begging to be played with… I couldn't stop staring, and I had this urge to either join her or copy what she was doing.

Mugitsu sat up again after getting her laughter under control. She took one look at me, and chuckled out, "Oh gods…. You're… you're totally turned on by this, I can tell!"

With that she began to laugh even harder than before. I blushed a shade of blood red and tried not to think about how right she was. Watching Azusa do this was too much. It was leaving my body aching for a release. The wetness between my legs was practically calling my hands down to it. It was crying out from my fingers to slide in and bathe in the liquid down there.

Just as Azusa looked to be reaching the point of her climax, I stuttered out, "T-That's en-enough… I… I th-think I need to g-go somewhere alone."

Still snickering, Mugitsu raised an eyebrow, "Fufufu, I catch your drift. I have a spell that can help you if you want."

"N-No!" I squeaked, awkwardly standing up. My knees quivered, and I shuttered as I felt some of my juices slowly trail down the inside of my thighs. Thankfully, Mugitsu ended this spell of voyeurism before it could get much worse for me. If I had watched Azusa finish in some grand finale of crying moans and gushing sex juices, I probably would have just lost it. Even thinking about that was bad.

"Just a joke, I know how prude you are." She giggled some more. "I had my fun though. We should this again though."

"Y-Yes." I stammered, just wanting to be alone.

"I shall see you another night then, Tsumugi." She gave a dramatic bow. Seductively, she licked her lips, "Maybe you'll be over your headache by then."

"D-Doubt it." I felt even more ashamed as I realized that some part of me _did_ want to take her up on her offer. That part wanted me to let this ageless mage work her kinky magic on me. I did my best to shut it out, knowing that Mio would be the one to bring me that kind of pleasure soon.

"See you around." She waved, and turned around. Her serpent mount flew down gracefully, stopping before her. Effortlessly, she leapt several meters to its back, landing just behind its frighteningly grotesque head. Mugitsu shouted, spurring the beast on, and in an instantly they were gone. That thing must have had a flight speed of seventy kilometers an hour. With her gone back into The Wastes, I was left here alone and a little aroused.

I silently cursed the heavens for making me become so horny whenever I saw or thought about cute girls doing sexy things. I really wanted to stay faithful to Mio in both body and mind, but instances would make it more difficult than I would have liked. Now I was left wondering if I should just go to bed and pretend I had never seen Azusa doing that, or stay up here and have a little fun with myself first.

Without thinking, I hitched up the skirt of my dress so I could take a good look at myself, and possibly go through with wildly pleasuring myself. I bit my lower lip and saw moisture glistening against my blonde hairs, practically begging for my fingers to dive into them. Despite my aching desire, I let my skirt fall again, and shook my head. I decided that I was saving that for Mio, and too much of a good thing would spoil it. Plus, getting off to spying on Azusa probably wasn't a good idea. When I was finished and calmed down, I would definitely regret it. I took the initiative and just went to bed.

The climb down wasn't exactly fun with how I was, but by the time I had made it to the bottom my body had calmed down. No more being overwhelmingly horny for me! The climb had left me exhausted, and I was pretty much dead on my feet by the time I made it to bed. That didn't stop me from cuddling up against Mio and using her as my teddy bear.

A dreamless sleep would bring me into what I would call an _eventful_ day. Little did I know, but things were going to change drastically for me in Midgard. Not just for me, but for all of my friends as well. For now, I slept peacefully, and completely unaware of the new adventure that awaited me.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Author's Note Stuff Here: **__Like Mugi just commented, chapter 20 marks where the story finally embarks on the plot I've been building up this whole time. Hopefully you guys won't hate it, or at least enjoy to some extent. You may have also noticed that this chapter dove headlong into erotic fantasy. I've been nervous about implementing it, but this story IS rated M and we're all big kids here._

_Anyway, hope you all got some marginal entertainment out of this chapter and aren't unsubscribing just yet!_


	20. Black Like Her Hair

**MUGI-CHAN: PLOT HOLES OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 20**

**BLACK LIKE HER HAIR**

"_Brother will fight brother and be his slayer,  
>brother and sister will violate the bonds of kinship;<br>hard it is in the world, there is much adultery,  
>axe-age, sword-age, shields are cleft asunder,<br>wind-age, wolf-age, before the world plunges headlong;  
>no man will spare another."<em>

~From the old Norse poem: _Volupsa _

The day had been cloudy and cold, and more or less exactly the same as the hundred before. With my new sword, Yui wasted no time helping me breaking it in with a bit of practice between us. Despite being heavy, it swung so easily, and I was deathly terrified of hurting her with it. She told me to just go at her with my all, and that I had no chance of actually hurting her with my skill compared to hers. Still, I was reluctant, and wished the whole time I could have used a nonlethal weapon instead. Those practice swords we had in Varyag were great, and I would have greatly preferred one to the ten kilogram piece of sky colored death I was swinging. We didn't just spar with weapons either, we sometimes wrestled around in the snow. That was more for fun though, and felt quite masculine. After our training, Yui held onto my sword for me, keeping it with her things. It was valuable, and if Azusa could steal my panties, then somebody else could probably steal that no problem. It was safer in Yui's care.

Speaking of Azusa's case of grand theft pantsu, I feel like I need to give some closure to that. Sadly, there wasn't any to be had. I didn't confront her about it, because I couldn't imagine how that could be done with things being incredibly awkward. So, instead I just told Mio mine had been lost in the laundry and was able to borrow a few pairs from her. The gods of Midgard graced me, because one of the pairs she loaned happened to be blue and white striped. I was now walking around with Mio's blue and white striped panties beneath my quilted clothes, and I was quite happy about it.

I guess I could say my day had been good. Time with Yui, new underwear, warm food, I wasn't sure what else I could have possibly wanted really (besides a face full of Mio chest, but that goes without saying). I sat that night, just after it had gotten dark, alone on the road leading the castle. I sat atop one of the rocks there, my usual spot for stargazing. The clouds disappeared for this night, and I was considering climbing up to where I had met Mugitsu the night before to watch the stars from up there. Part of me wanted to see Mugitsu again, even if she always left me frightened and embarrassed. Beautiful, mysterious, and even a little charming; there was definitely an allure to her. I wondered if she was thinking of me right then, or looking at the same stars.

"Mugi." Someone said my name. I looked towards them, and secretly hoped it was Mugitsu. It wasn't, it was Mio walking down to greet me. "What are you doing out here all alone?"

"Watching the stars, they're very pretty out. In Japan, I could never see them because of all the lights in the city." I told her in my stock pleasant demeanor.

"If only you could have seen them back when they were full in the sky. It seems like so many of them are gone." She gave a dreamy sigh and sat down close next to me. Her arm went around my waist, and she gently pulled me close to her. "I watched you practicing with Hirasawa earlier today."

"Oh, you did?" I replied. I felt a little humbled and embarrassed at the thought of Mio watching Yui and I dance our dance of blades together. I wondered if she thought I looked cool fighting like that. I also worried that she had seen Yui and me wrestling, because then she might think we were like little kids.

"Mhm." She smiled. "You're getting better, good enough that you could easily pose as a wandering warrior from Aibureido. My father still doesn't know where you're from, so I'm thinking we need to sit down and come up with a good story for him. It needs to be something that makes you seem noble and valiant, like someone he could respect. I can't tell him you're from another world, because he'll automatically associate that with demons."

"I'm no warrior though." I reminded her. "I may have my sword, and the most basic ability to defend myself, but the thought of taking another life just sounds appalling to me."

"You may have to one day…" She sighed, and lowered her voice. "…you won't want to but you'll have to. Then it'll happen again some other day, but it'll be a little easier. It gets easier each time, until all you think about during a fight is the fastest and most efficient way to end it."

I was shocked, that kind of talk was the last sort of thing I expected to hear from Mio. She didn't sound at all happy to tell me these things either, which made me wonder why she even was. I thought back to our ride Varyag so long ago, and how she had just blown those bandits away with her magic. It had only now just really dawned on me that I was sitting next to someone who had killed over a dozen people. Her blade spell had reduced some to much, another spell turned one to ash, and the others were electrocuted to death. This was Akiyama Mio, and even _she_ had taken the lives of others here. How long would it be before I would stand over the dead body of another human, look down and know I had been the one to take their life away?

Also, Sword-chan wasn't me. I hadn't even been consciously directed her against those bandits. Their deaths were not my fault.

All of a sudden I wanted nothing more than to go home.

"Mugi, are you alright?" Mio worriedly asked me. I just then realized a single tear was running down my cheek.

"Yeah, just have something in my eye." I lied, forcing a smile. I wiped away that tear with my hand.

"Are you sure you're okay? You can tell me anything, you know that." She didn't look at all convinced.

"I'm just a little teary eyed tonight, I guess." I admitted. "I was doing a lot of thinking before you sat with me. It's nothing bad, or about you though."

"If you say so." Mio smiled, and I think she believed me. She offered me her hand as she stood up, and I took it. Before I could wonder where we were going to go, she told me. "Want to go for a walk with me? It's a nice night out; let's walk around the mountains and towards the valley."

"That sounds lovely." I stood up with her. I hoped we weren't going _into_ the valley. The place was forever associated to me with undead, giants, and demons. Just making small talk, I asked, "How are those Varangian soldiers, I mean Infantry Breakers, doing against all those dead warriors? Are giants still a threat?"

"We don't know about the giants, but the Infantry Breakers are doing phenomenal against Mugitsu's legions of dead." Mio replied with a slight hint of what sounded like spite. "They blast through the undead better than our militia ever could have hoped to do. Beyond that, they haven't had a single casualty either, which is completely astounding to Ritsu. She's being weird about them being here, like kind of neglecting a lot of her militia duties. She used to take on a huge workload, trying to help out everywhere, but now she just says, '_let the Infantry Breakers take care of it, that's what they're being paid for_'."

"It sounds like Ricchan feels left out and replaced." I told her.

"I thought the same thing, but the Infantry Breakers are just so much more efficient than we ever were. I wish there was a way to make Ritsu feel better about it, but we can't afford not to have Varyag's aid here. We _could_ deal with the undead by ourselves, but it's only a matter of time before Mugitsu gathers something bigger to throw at us."

"I won't let her do that." I declared, with an air of determination.

"Weren't you just saying you're not a warrior?" Mio chuckled.

I shook my head, "No, no, no, I'm not going to fight her. Mugitsu and I get along a little bit, and I think I could convince her to just end this whole little war with a bit of time. She really just needs a friend, Mio-chan."

Mio took a step away from me and gave me a confused look. "You… don't actually believe that, do you?"

"What, that I could use friendship to make her stop this? I, in fact, do believe that." I was a little disappointed at how quickly she dismissed me with that. "I spoke to her last night, and she just seemed really lonely."

"Mugi, she's really dangerous, you shouldn't be talking to her!" Mio scolded me, not angrily, but sounding worried for me.

"She considers me a friend though, so she won't hurt me." I tried to tell her.

"I really think you should reconsider spending any amount of time with her, Mugi." She pleaded, gently taking hold of my arm. "For all you know she's just using you to get something she wants. Mages are extremely cunning, dangerous, and manipulative people. You shouldn't trust a word that comes out of her mouth."

"But aren't you a mage?" I asked, sort of wishing I hadn't immediately afterwards.

Mio looked hurt by that, "Yes… I am, but you know I'm not like her. Please listen to me though; I'm being serious about this. Mugitsu has made allies with normal people before, and she betrayed each and every one of them."

I sighed, and considered what Mio said. She and I were now a little ways down the road that we had taken to Icenborgir. I wondered if it was safe to be travelling at night like this. I had heard so many stories here about nightly predators that stalked The Wastes and occasionally strolled into human lands looking for a snack. After a few minutes, I finally replied to her.

"I'll take everything she says to me with a grain of salt from now on, alright? If she says anything that seems dangerous or threatening to Sakuragyfli, you'll be the first person I tell."

Mio moved a little closer to me and said, "Thank you, Mugi. I just want you to be safe, that's all and…"

She paused and looked around.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I can't shake this feeling that someone is watching or following us." She shuddered.

"Hmm, I wonder if it's one of our friends trying to surprise us." I mused aloud, and hoped that the case. "I bet it's Ricchan, she seems like she'd be good at sneaking up and surprising people."

"Don't get too lax, Mugi, even right outside town danger is still present." She warned me. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid, and now I'm ruining the mood. I wanted us to go for a walk so we could see the stars and be alone together."

"It's fine, I'm just happy to be with you." I assured her. I leaned against the black haired mage, resting my head on her shoulder as we walked. It was comfortable for my heart, but a little uncomfortable for my neck. We walked and I thought about how much happier the two of would have been outside of Sakuragyfli and its problems. I thought about that fancy restaurant in Lutvjarg, and how much I wanted a proper dinner date between us. Maybe somewhere in this world there was a private sandy beach the two of us could spend an afternoon together at. I closed my eyes and imagined the two of us somewhere together like that. We'd lie together beneath a warm sun, and I would listen to her sing while the waves crashing in and out would provide her with the rhythm for her song. It was my fantasy, and I wished to see it come true one day. It didn't have to be a beach, I'd be happy if it were her and me in a field of flowers somewhere too. Maybe when the sun finally shone again, something like that would be possible for the two of us.

We walked, and I heard a peculiar noise ahead in the dark. It was a woman's voice, singing softly to the stars in a not-quite perfect pitch.

"Is that Sanya?" I whispered to Mio. The path we took was winding into the foothills north, which I knew for a fact Sanya patrolled. Even in the dark, there was a bit of illumination from the stars above, but yet I couldn't see anyone. It sounded like the song was in English, but even with my enchantment I could only make out a few words such as 'moon' and 'forest'.

"It doesn't sound like her." Mio replied with a whisper at equal volume to mine. "Sanya doesn't sing in Collective, as far as I know. Can you see her, Mugi?"

"No." I answered. "Maybe we should say hello."

"I don't know about that…" She slowed down her pace, and was quite shy.

Feeling friendly, I ignored her and happily called out, "_Hello!_ You have a very lovely singing voice, whoever you are!"

A disembodied voice called out from what looked to be nowhere, "Why thank you!"

Wait, I recognized that voice. Some ten meters ahead of us, just off the side of the road and atop a grassy knoll someone materialized from thin air. It was like watching liquid fill empty space as they appeared. Standing there now was the woman who had I had spent time with the night before, Mugitsu. She walked towards us, hips swaying gracefully beneath her revealing black armor.

"M-Mugitsu, I didn't know you sang." I picked up my pace to greet her. Mio didn't move an inch.

"Yes. I sing my songs to that other Sentinel who skulks around these hills and mountains. Her magic lets her hear me from miles away. I doubt she even knows who I am either." The black haired immortal told me with a bit of cheer in her voice.

From behind us, Mio asked, "Why… why would you sing her to her? She's supposed to be your enemy!"

Mugitsu instantly frowned, and stepped to the side to see Mio face to face. She gave an exaggerated groan and replied, "Because I don't consider neither Litvyak nor Juutilainen any sort of threat, and therefore not an enemy of mine. If I can make a poor, lonely girl's trek through the night a little easier, then I'll do that. Plus, she's the only one I can really sing to. Frost giant's only care about ballads of war, and the undead are poor listeners."

"You sing to Sanya-chan? That's so sweet of you." My heart felt a little fuzzy at Mugitsu's good deed. I was more than happy to hear about her doing good things like that. It was proof that she wasn't all just sociopathy and war.

Mio didn't look nearly as happy as I was to hear this. She gave a wary frown that nearly matched Mugitsu's and said back, "What's the catch though? Is there some kind of charm spell or curse with your voice that you're afflicting her with?"

"You _would_ instantly assume that anything I do has to be ridden with malice." Mugitsu growled. "I always thought only those with rational and open minds could be mages."

"Funny, I thought the exact same thing." Mio shot back.

I scurried in between them, a couple meters from each black haired mage. I put on a shaky smile and tried to play diplomat. "Hey, hey, hey, let's not fight you two! Mio-chan, Mugitsu is doing a nice thing and there's no reason to doubt her. Mugitsu, Mio-chan and I are just going for a walk, and I'm sorry she's questioning you're singing. There's no reason to insult her. I think you should both apologize to one another."

"I'm not apologizing since I didn't say anything insulting, or at least untrue." Mugitsu sneered in Mio's direction.

Mio walked towards me and grabbed me by the arm. "Come on Mugi, we don't need to take this. Let's just go home, and Mugitsu can stay here and consider herself lucky that we don't inform the Infantry Breakers that she's here."

Mugitsu laughed at that. "Actually, _they're_ the lucky ones if you go home and say not a word about me. What were you two doing out here anyway? I thought Lord Akiyama kept his daughter on a short leash."

"I'm a grown woman; my father can't stop me from going out if I please." Mio responded to the obvious attempt at provocation.

I answered a little more pleasantly, "It was a night nice and we both decided we wanted nice company for it. Mio-chan, I think we should continue our walk with Mugitsu too. I'm sure you two could become friends if you got to know each other. You already have a lot in common."

"Mugi, do you know how my father would react if he knew I was even talking to her?" Mio asked while pointing at the other mage. "I'm sorry, but we're going back. Now."

She tugged on me, but I remained rooted to the spot, determined to try to filter out the bad blood between them. "I'm being serious, Mio-chan, just give her a chance." I told her, nearly pleading. "My night with her in Lutvjarg, and the other times I've spoken to her have showed me that she's not really a bad person. We just need to give her a chance and accept her, and then this whole feud will finally end!"

"If it meant more time with Mugi… then… I'd be willing to try and get along with her." Mugitsu didn't sound at all sure with herself. I appreciated that she was trying.

"No, Mugi." Mio shook her head. I felt my heart sink, and a bit of frustration mount. She tugged at me once more, trying to make me follow her back. "I'm sorry, Mugi. I can't accept her, and I never will. Her armies have taken too many husbands and sons from Sakuragyfli and I can't just forget that."

"Then what do you propose instead?" I asked, remaining glued to that spot. "Is violence and both sides sending out soldiers to die a better solution? I know she's done bad things, but nothing will ever stop unless both parties come to an agreement first. Instantly turning away a chance at diplomacy won't help a thing, Mio-chan!"

"It doesn't matter what I do, nobody else would accept her either!" Mio raised her voice towards me, angrier now than before.

"It's at least a start!" I matched her pitch.

"I said no and that's it." She stopped trying to get me to follow her and began stomping back towards Sakuragyfli. "If you want to stay out here with Mugitsu, then that's fine with me I guess; I can't choose your friends. Just know that I'm locking my doors unless you come back with me now."

"Mio-chan, you're not being fair!" I called after her.

"This is sad." Mugitsu said, stepping past me and slowly towards Mio's direction. "Mugi's right, Akiyama. We already have something in common, and that's our bond with this little blonde girl who happens to look like my late sister. We shouldn't be putting strain on her like this. We should behave like the adults at least one of us is."

"Like you care how Mugi feels!" Mio shouted back at her after stopping.

"Realize that I could have killed you that day that we skirmished near Icenborgir. I think you owe me for that. All I'm asking if that you take Mugi's feelings into consideration more." Mugitsu sounded mad, but at the same time was still calm. I was silently pleading that Mio would see Mugitsu's point and stop being so stubborn.

"She and I will have a talk about this later, and I promise I'll listen to her then." Mio replied. "We'll have a long talk about why she shouldn't be endangering herself by being around you."

"Just what is you're problem?" Mugitsu yelled at her. "You can't even oblige to the simple wishes of our mutual friend, but yet you paint _me_ as the bad person here? Akiyama, you dishonor Mugi just by being within her very presence. She deserves a better friend than that. Even that small girl, Nakano, was willing to go to Lutvjarg and try to get along even after I left her beaten and broken in the snow. She even tried to be pleasant to me, but you here refuse to even listen to Mugi. I'm amazed that Mugi even wastes her time on someone like you."

"Mugitsu that was kind of..." I was taken aback by how horribly awful what she had just said was. My mind worked quickly as I tried to think of something to say to defuse this situation. They seemed to be hating each other more and more by the second, and I needed to do something fast to fix this. Mio replied before I could think of something else to say.

"Are you suggesting that I would take advantage of Mugi's good nature?" Mio looked both hurt and stunned, her anger seemingly gone.

I sighed and told Mugitsu, "That was too far. Mio-chan and I are very close friends, and even if she doesn't want to listen to me that doesn't give you the right to say those awful things about her. Apologize to her, now."

"No." Mugitsu turned to me and shook her head. "Why do you keep defending her? All she's doing is dragging you down and making _you_ look bad."

"Because she's my friend!" I shouted at her. "Even if we have these arguments or don't see eye to eye, she still makes me happy; she's still a friend!"

"And my lover." Mio revealed the ace she was hiding. While it certainly enforced my point, it was _not_ something I wanted Mugitsu knowing about.

The immortal mage's face slowly contorted into a disgusted frown towards me. She looked like she was in total disbelief. "That… that was a joke, right? I mean, that can't be true, _right?_"

"We're both virgins but…" I took a deep breath. "Yes, I love Mio-chan."

There, it was out. I could see Mio's face light up with a smile from my confession towards Mugitsu. I was now dreading her reaction.

"You rejected all my advances because… because of _HER?_" Mugitsu screamed and pointed in Mio's direction. We both flinched back at her, and I felt the air hum with some sort of unseen power.

"I did." I admitted, now moving past her to stand with Mio. I somehow felt _a lot_ safer over here with this mage. "I'm really sorry, because I know you had feelings for me, Mugitsu. I really wish it could have been any other way for you or Azusa-chan for that matter. Mio was here first, and my heart belongs to her. I'm sorry, but nothing can change that."

I tried my best to let her down as gently as I could, but she looked _furious_. I now regretted not leaving with Mio earlier when I had the chance.

"_WHY?"_ She screamed once more at us. "What unholy fucking spell did that witch wrought upon your addled little mind that would make you choose _HER _over _ME_? I cannot fathom what god's damned mental malfunction you currently possess that would make you attracted to her in any way shape or FORM!"

"Stop it, Mugitsu!" I shouted back at her. "There is nothing wrong with me or her!"

Mio's stubbornness from before had withered into fearfulness at Mugitsu screaming outburst. She grabbed my arms in hers, and was slowly inching backwards. Her voice was reduced to a terrified squeak as she spoke, "Y-Yes, Mugi is with me. N-Now… I'm s-s-sorry for what I said e-earlier and I'll definitely consider those things a-about diplomacy. It's getting late though and M-Mugi and I should really st-start heading back before someone begins to worry."

"And now you insult me further by changing all your stances and opinions to escape my potential wrath like some kind of sniveling coward!" Mugitsu took one mighty step towards us. Her fingers looked like they were itching to start casting spells as they danced against her palm. "Just… Mugi, tell me what that mortal whore has that I don't!"

"She's not a whore! She's pure, chaste, and even saving herself!" I defended my dear Mio.

"I said _TELL ME!" _The two of us flinched back at her screaming. Lightning arced between a few of her fingers, filling me with dread.

I knew doing this was putting me at risk, but I quickly grabbed Mio into a tight hug, and turned my head to face Mugitsu. Shouting, I answered her, "Mio-chan doesn't scare me with her threats and magic! Mio-chan doesn't hurt any of my friends or insult them constantly with constant arrogance and passive aggressiveness! She's gentle and kind, and treats me like a heroic prince who came here to save her. She makes me feel loved and appreciated, and these are feelings nobody else has ever made me feel like this."

"But…" Mugitsu struggled to reply, while Mio kept silent in my protecting arms. "…but she's just a normal person! She'll whither and age, or die before that from either conflict of disease. Mugi, I'm _immortal_, and I could share this gift with you! Neither of us would ever die, and with my magic, I could give you any thing you could ever want. Please, I'm willing to get on my knees and beg you to step away from that mortal and give your love to me! You don't understand what you are to me! You're everything that I loved in my sister, but without being family or being cursed with her awful arrogance and pride. You're literally everything I ever wanted in a person!"

"If you could use magic to give me anything I wanted, why didn't you use it to give me the feelings that Mio gives me?" I asked her. My eyes began to water, because I hated being in this position so much. I didn't want to hurt Mugitsu like I was doing right now. She must have felt so awful and betrayed, and it was my entire fault."

A _fourth_ voice rang out in the darkness before Mugitsu could say something. It came from behind us, and it sounded like Azusa. "Hey, is that you Mugi and Mio? I heard shouting, is something wrong?"

Mio awkwardly turned around in my arms and replied to her with a shout. "Azusa? Thank the Aesir it's you, go get Hirasawa and alert the soldiers from Varyag. Mugitsu's here!"

"S-She is? Okay, I'll do that right away!" Azusa called back. I could see her form in the darkness already running away.

"So that's how it is?" Mugitsu growled. Her boots clicked against the cobblestone road loudly as she slowly walked towards us. "Bring the warriors and prepare for a fight then? Alright, I'm ready, how about you?"

"Mugitsu, no, please don't do anything!" I pleaded as Mio and I kept walking back from her, one step at a time. The mage now looked terrifying as more electricity crackled from her finger tips. Her eyes were now slightly reddened, and a nightly wind blew her black hair in one direction. I remembered those legends saying that her hair was like her soul; black. I prayed they weren't entirely right.

Mio shrugged my arms away and faced Mugitsu. She looked pale and afraid, like she was about to faint. "Stop, Mugitsu." She demanded. "Stop and just leave now."

"Or what?" She smirked and kept walking; while we kept stepping back.

"I'll… I'll…" Mio stuttered and slowly rose up her hands. "I'll _make_ you leave, and protect everyone!"

"Mio-chan, don't." I placed my hands on one of her risen arms.

She shrugged me away again, "No, Mugi, I'm not going to let her just blast these poor Varangian women away. For all I know, she'll try to hurt you too, and I'm not going to let that happen."

Mugitsu rose up her hands as well, matching Mio's gesture. She laughed a few times and said, "I like this, Akiyama. Come to think of it, I think Mugi would find you much more lovable as a blackened stain on the ground."

"_Don't you dare hurt her!_" I screamed at Mugitsu. My voice nearly cracked from screaming so loudly. I couldn't remember ever raising my voice that high before.

"Or you'll do what?" Mugitsu called my bluff effortlessly. She and Mio stood maybe three meters from each other, eying each other down. I stood at the sidelines, nearly in tears, wishing I could do something. "That's what I thought." Mugitsu chuckled, and quickly drew a kanji in the air. Mio's eyes were focused on her fingers as she copied the gesture with a different spell. A blast of blue electricity in the form of a lightning bolt shot towards Mio. I screamed briefly, so afraid for her life, but watched in indescribable relief as Mio's deflected it with the palm of her hand. She flinched back from it, and the bolt shot harmlessly towards the sky and fizzled out. Mugitsu almost seemed impressed.

"A nice and quick deflect." She commented. "I get the feeling your spell selection is built towards defending against other spells?"

"Like I would tell you." Mio said through gritted teeth and cast another spell. I couldn't tell what it did though.

"Please, stop this!" I pleaded once more.

"Listen to Mugi, please!" Mio begged as well.

Mugitsu just kept smiling her evil smile, stepping towards Mio. With each step she took, Mio stepped back and I kept up with them at the side. Another bolt of lightning was blasted at Mio, but she was able to deflect it aside once more. This time, it went _my_ direction nearly hitting me. The older mage laughed again, "You're the one who started this fight, Akiyama. You should have thought a little harder before sending that girl to wake the hive."

"I'm sorry, just-" Mio was cut off by another bolt of lightning, this one she was only able to partially block aside. She staggered backwards, and yelped as a bit of electricity shocked her. Thankfully it didn't seem to do anything more than just sting a bit.

"Mugitsu, stop, just stop, I'll…" I tried to think of something to offer her, but the only thing I could think of was myself. Part of me didn't really like the idea of spending eternity as her wife.

"There's nothing I want from you anymore." Mugitsu spat in my direction. "You've already made it abundantly clear that you only want big breasts and someone to tell you how pretty you look. I see how shallow you really are now!"

"It doesn't mean you have to try and kill us!"

"I won't kill you Mugi, because even if you are shallow and petty, there's nothing saying you can't be persuaded my way." She replied to me. "I think we really could have something together. But you've made up your mind."

"I have, and I think we could still be friends, so just stop casting magic!" I pleaded more.

Mugitsu stepped back, but didn't lower her spell casting hands. She looked towards me and gave a verdict, "Then come with me Mugi, and leave this awful little village with me. You would be happier in the long run, and wouldn't regret it. It's not like I wouldn't let you visit those other friends of yours."

"But I like being with Mio, I can't just leave her for you in an instant like that." I tried to be rational with her, instead of just yelling. "I don't think I'm being unreasonable in wanting us to just get along. The three of us should go to Lutvjarg again, and have a date there like we did with Azusa-chan and Yui-chan!"

Mugitsu frowned at me, and I felt absolutely pathetic pitching this idea here while nearly in tears. "It's me or her at this point, Mugi." She decided.

Tears burned hot in eyes and rolled down my cheeks. I sniffled once and replied to her in sobs, "W-What… what happens if I stay with Mio? Will you just kill one of if you don't have your way? My options at this point are be happy then die or be unhappy and live forever."

"_It's not like that!_" Mugitsu yelled at me, stomping her foot down. "Why are you so fucking stubborn!"

"Because this isn't fair, Mugitsu!" I yelled back at her. "I don't want to be with you! You're making it so I can't see any good in you now. Please just let Mio and me go home and try to forget this night."

Her fingers curled up into fists, and her teeth were clenched in a snarl. Stomping her foot, she was nearly screaming, "No! No! No! I shouldn't have to stand for this! I wield power so great that the _gods_ themselves were afraid of me! Now I'm here being rejected by a lowly mortal girl because she's star struck by this concubine."

"Mio is not-"

"_Don't interrupt me!_" Mugitsu cut me off with a vicious growl. "You..." She pointed at me while slowly walking in my direction. Like before, I began stepping back away from her, now afraid for my life. "You should be _grateful_ for what I'm trying to offer you stupid little whore! Instead of coddling against that pathetic excuse for a mage, you should be at my feet _groveling_ for my attention. Being from another world only excuses your ignorance for so long, you should _know_ by now _WHO_ _I AM_ and _WHAT I DESERVE!_"

"Mugitsu, s-stop!" I raised my hands up in some kind of meek defense as she stomped towards me. I cried out as she grabbed a fistful of my blonde hair, yanking me in some direction. I couldn't tell through the pain of having my hair pulled like that.

"I no longer care for you consent." She growled. "A few spells will give you the personality and desires that I deem fit. This will be better for all of-"

She let me go abruptly and staggered back, gritting her teeth and twitching slightly. Smoke and sparks were appearing around her, and I saw Mio with her hands up in spell casting form, small bits of electricity dancing between her fingers. Her fingers swished through the air and she blasted Mugitsu with another bolt of electricity.

"You keep your hands _OFF_ her!" Mio screamed as Mugitsu fell to her knees, struggling to get back up. Powerful mage or not, nobody could handle being electrocuted like that.

"I think we'd better go, like, right now!" I suggested. I was shaking all over, terrified as to what Mugitsu would do next. I hoped Mio would be strong enough to keep her held off until help arrived. Speaking of which, they were sure taking their sweet time.

"No." Mio shook her head.

"What? We need to get away from her now!"

"This is it; this is our chance to finish her for good!" Mio replied, a look of grim determination on her face. "Once the others arrive, we can end her. There's no way she could stand against an army of soldiers with their mage leader too."

"Colonel Neerinil is a mage?" I asked, a little rhetorically.

"A different kind, but a very powerful one still." Mio answered, and cast another spell. Like one she had cast before, I couldn't see any visible effects from it. There was a hum of power around Mio now though, and I could only wonder what she had changed.

Mugitsu growled, almost inhumanly, and rose to her feet with a wobble. She faced us, some still rising from her shoulders. Her finger pointed towards me, and she spoke in the most hostile tone I had heard from her yet, "_You_. You really _are_ my sister aren't you? So sweet and kind, but so easily manipulated by pretty people to turn away from the person who loves you most!"

"I'm not your sister though!" I tried to tell her.

"I'll believe what I want to believe, Onee-chan." The side of her lips rose to a smirk, and her hands took a spell casting pose. "If you don't want me… that's fine. Killing you before didn't do a thing other than leave me alone and miserable. This time, though… I know what to do."

Her smirk became a full blown smile as her fingers worked to create magic. Mio's followed hers, but were much slower than the accomplished mage's. Mugitsu's fingers glowed, unlike Mio's, and what she traced lingered in the air. In front of her was a small glowing red trace of the kanji: 消す. _Kesu_, or 'erase', 'obliterate', 'snuff', ect... I quickly looked over to Mio, who had a look of pure horror on her face.

Mio reached out to me, almost looking like she was in slow motion, and said, "Mugi, I'm-"

Her words were cut off as something jolted through her. Her look of fear turned into surprise, then gentle repose as her eyes closed. I watched in agony as a translucent white simulacrum of Mio slowly rose from her body, stopping just below chest level and fading into the air like smoke in the wind. It looked to me, like her very soul had just left her body. She remained standing for a moment, before slowly collapsing. I didn't let her hit the ground. I dashed forward and caught her in my arms, cradling her close.

"Mio?" I said her name, praying for some sort of response. Her peaceful face remained silent, I couldn't event ell if she was breathing. I was shaking all over, struggling to draw breath as I called her name again. "_Mio!_"

My head was spinning; my eyes were burning from the tears spilling out down my cheeks. The tears were turning my world into a dark, blurry portrait where nothing seemed real. Using one hand to hold her against me, I used the other to press against her chest and try to feel for a heart beat. Her body was still warm against my touch, but was completely still to it.

"_Mio!_" I cried a third time, falling to my knees with her body in my arms. I was crying harder now, and even the sky seemed to mourn for her as well. Cold rain smelling of autumn air poured down upon us, so befitting of my mood. The girl I loved was dead, torn away from me by a jealous demon. I looked up and saw Mugitsu's triumphant smirk glaring down upon me. The sorrow I felt for me was now rivaled by a bitter hatred and violent rage towards this woman. She stood there and just watched like the vulture she was, probably enjoying the sight of my tears. I buried my face into Mio's lifeless chest, praying that my tears would some how gift her with life again. This world was like a fairy tale, and I just kept hoping that fairy tale logic would somehow work. It didn't'; Mio remained the way she was and my sobbing and cries for her were ignored by the gods these people put so much faith into. I heard foot steps running towards us, just one set.

"It looks like we have company." Mugitsu sounded amused, and oh-so smug as her voice broke through the curtain of noise the rain had brought with it.

Someone placed a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Yui standing above me. In one hand was her drawn Murasame, and in the other was my sky blue sword, now dark beneath the stars' light. She was holding it out to me, her face showing that she wasn't ready to be patient with me. I understood what I was supposed to do now. If those Infantry Breakers could make it soon enough, and with Sanya and Neerinil's help, we could win this fight. I gently set Mio down on the rain soaked ground and stood up to take my sword. I didn't want to fight; I was too heartbroken and terrified of Mugitsu to do this. My emotions needed to but put aside though. Mio had just _died_ for this cause, and I was going to make sure it wasn't in vain.

"She's gone, Yui-chan." My voice was strained, and I was amazed I managed to be coherent.

There was a look of momentary shock on her face, but it faded as she resumed her calm demeanor. Bubbly, bright Yui-chan needed to take a back seat for this one. "Then… this is for Mio-chan?" She asked me.

I nodded. "It is."

Here I was ready to swing my sword for _revenge_. I couldn't help but think how I was now just another cog in the machine that was this world. Here I was about to help add more violence and pain to this already near unbearable world. Mugitsu had taken Mio-chan away from me, I wasn't about to just take this laying down.

The mage looked at us like we were little kids trying to stand up against her. "This is amusing." She scoffed. "Now you two are going to try and kill me… Is this for revenge, Mugi? I thought you would be above that."

"Shut up…" I took my fighting stance with my sword, trying my best to control my shaking. Through gritted teeth, in a voice that didn't sound like my own, I growled out, "You took Mio-chan away from me, away from all of us! I'll make you pay, Mugitsu, I'll make you feel what I'm feeling right now!"

Mugitsu drew her silver sword. "I've already commanded Gitsu to send my serpentine friend to come pick me up. I'd say that gives us about twenty minutes of play time with you kiddies. After this, well, let's just say I have nothing to lose and nothing holding me back anymore!"

"_I said shut up!_" I screamed and made my charge at her. I had no idea what I was doing, and was acting purely on instinct, adrenaline, and indescribable rage towards her. Each time I blinked, I saw Mio's smiling face. The image fueled me, gave me strength and the desire to see Mugitsu's body split in two. My sword came down hard with an overhead cleave, blocked by her blade's horizontal defense.

"Keep her from casting spells, and we'll make it!" Yui told me as she scrambled to get behind Mugitsu to flank her.

I shouted and screamed over and over again as I swung my sword at her time after time. Each time it was met with a defense from her, which sent my arms shaking and made my hands numb. With each block from her came the loud noise of our sword clashing. With the three of us fighting, it was nearly deafening in the rain. I could barely see through the rain, and Mugitsu was moving too quickly to predict her attacks or defense. This was nothing like sparring with Yui. All of my discipline and developed skill was gone as I essentially just flailing my weapon around like a fool. All of my attacks were blocked, and her silver sword jabbed and hit against my skin several times. Thankfully her blade was still cursed not to harm me for some reason. Otherwise, I would have been dead already. Mugitsu danced and twirled between us, managing to guard against each and every one of our attacks. Yui _did_ break her defense once, but her slice was stopped by Mugitsu's armor. My heavy sword left me exhausted as I swung time and time again, now more demoralized than ever.

This was hopeless; we weren't even wearing her out. I was just taking up space in this battle and serving as a distraction for Yui. Had she been using another weapon, Mugitsu would have run me through and killed me. Instead I was left alive to witness just ineffective I really was.

I threw my blade against hers and breathlessly screamed out, "Fix her!"

"Akiyama?" Mugitsu didn't seem in the least bit exhausted or tired out yet. "She isn't broken, just dead."

"You said you could use magic to anything, so bring her back!" I backed up a step, withdrawing from this battle.

From Sakuragyfli's direction, I heard the shouts of soldiers running to join the battle. Reinforcements had arrived, and Yui and I were successful. I didn't feel successful though, I felt like my entire world had just shattered.

"_Enough_!" Mugitsu shouted and scrambled back away from us, using her sword to block both swings we made at her. "Without Akiyama's magic boosting you, Hirasawa, you're a joke; a complete failure as a Sentinel. The sheer weight of Mugi's sword coming down on mine was more effective in annoying me than anything you did. You are both equally incompetent and useless."

"It stopped you from casting magic, and we got help now!" Yui panted, managing to shoot a smile in my direction. I wasn't able to return the gesture. Mugitsu had just ignored me there

"Stopped me?" She laughed once. "Here, stop _this_."

The fingers of her free hand began working a spell as her sword hand kept us away. Yui and I tried to stop her from getting a spell off with our combined attacks, but couldn't manage it. Mugitsu smiled at us as she finished her spell. Around her, the hair became hazy and purple, smelling faintly of some sort of chemicals. It left an acrid taste in my mouth as I breathed in, that contrasted heavily with the pleasant smell of rain.

"What did you do?" Yui stepped back from her, sword still raised.

Mugitsu turned away from us and sheathed her sword as she began walking way. "We're done here. To answer your question, Mugi, I will not undo what I did. That girl is dead and it wouldn't have had to be that way if you had accepted what I wanted to give you."

She was blaming _me_ for what had happened. I lost it then, just absolutely lost my restraint and self control. Letting out one more scream, something closer to a battle cry, I raised Talvimiekka and sprinted towards Mugitsu. I fought past the burning in my lungs, the aching my arms, and the hopelessness in my heart to give her one final swing. All of my strength was put down into this last overhead cleave brought down on her back, and surprisingly, she didn't evade or find some way to block it. The sky colored blade cut down on her shoulder, breaking through the armor and embedding itself only about ten centimeters deep. She stopped, exhaled sharply as I stood in awe at what I had done. Before I could feel any sort of victory or triumph that I had spilled even a few drops of her blood, something inside me stirred.

Her spell, that cloudy stuff, was now taking its grisly effect. My knees went week, and fell to the now muddy ground, catching myself with my hands. My insides were on fire, hurting so badly I couldn't even scream and struggled to breathe. It felt like I had swallowed potent acid, and I was afraid all my guts were just going to burst through my skin or something it hurt _that bad_. Mugitsu's metal clad boot slammed into my stomach as she kicked me, hard. My sword fell and clattered next to me. All the breath in me was completely gone, and I was nearly choking, barely able to even keep on my hands and knees.

_Oh God, no here it-_

With barely a moment's notice, I vomited up a heavy torrent of what looked like blood. The pain inside my intensified, rising to my throat as well and burning it just as much. The first wave of expelled blood ended, and I struggled to turn my head to see how Yui was doing. She was down on one knee, blood splattered all across the front of her yukata and against her chin. It looked like her breathing was ragged and strained like mine with all the same pain. Seeing her like that hurt me, because I felt like this wasn't her fight, like she shouldn't have anything to do with this. Meanwhile Mugitsu was casually walking away, probably wallowing in her sinister victory.

I only got a glimpse of her since I was then forced to vomit some more onto the ground. After another round of hacking up my own insides, I felt slightly better, less weak. I managed to at least get standing, and limped towards Yui. A group of Infantry Breakers with their swords and axes in hand ran towards us, behind them, more were close by. They rushed past us, going straight for Mugitsu. One tackled her from behind, actually managing to jump on her back and bite down on her cheek instead of using her weapon. If they just overwhelmed her like that, then maybe they had a chance of winning.

"_Get off of me!_" Mugitsu enraged voice screamed as she slammed the soldier onto the ground. She stomped down on that poor girl with her boot over and over again, while preparing a spell with her hands. Lightning, like from before, blasted out from her finger tips creating a chorus of pained screams from those charging towards her. It wasn't just lightning she uses, but blasts of fire streaking through the night that ignited anything they hit.

Yui and I used each other as support, arms around one another's shoulders as we sort of limped away and listened to the series of explosions and shouts behind us. I stopped, and realized that I was about to limp out of here without Mio's body. That was far from okay with me.

"H-huh…" I had tried to say 'hold on', but I couldn't manage to form words with this awful pain in my throat. Instead, I awkwardly pushed away from Yui and stumbled and limped towards the body of my dead love. I spared Mugitsu and the fight around her a passing glance, and wished I hadn't. The black haired mage had her sword straight through one blonde soldier, and was using her spell hand to cause another one to _explode_. Not a fiery explosion, but explosion of red mist and bone. One more horror for me to witness, and I was too emotionally and physically exhausted then to really be affected by it.

I fell to my knees at Mio's side and tried to pick her up in my arms. The fight and that spell had taken too much out of me, and I couldn't do it. Frustration clawed at me from within, and for a brief, miniscule moment, I wished I were dead. Someone was there to help me though, a familiar face that filled me with all sorts of relief. It was Ritsu, who picked up Mio in her arms with a bit of effort.

"You're okay to walk?" She had to shout to be heard.

I nodded, not bothering to try and speak. Yui was quick behind us, and the three of us made a stumbling retreat from this battle. I took one last look behind me.

In the rain, more and more soldiers were throwing themselves against Mugitsu, who continued to just blast them all back with an array of destructive magic that all matched the various forms of nature's wrath. Lightning shot from her hand, fire burned across the battlefield, and pelting, razor sharp shards of ice rained down from the sky just around her. We were safely away from all of it now. Behind her, in the sky, I saw the slithering shadowy figure that was her ride out. It didn't look like this attempt at getting rid of her had succeeded at all. I was left with the girl I loved gone, my insides hurt by corrosive gasses, and now I had an immortal mage hating me.

I swore though, as we retreated, on several things that I promised myself would happen.

I would never let anyone I care about die again. I was willing to sacrifice my own life to make sure this wouldn't happen again.

I would force myself to get better with a sword, so that I wouldn't just be a useless hindrance in battle again. Next time I ever saw Mugitsu; my sword would go straight through her and not just centimeters into her shoulder.

I wouldn't let this night change me. I would still try to be the same old Tsumugi.

This was a world of magic things and spells. If there was some way, _any_ kind of way to breathe life back into Mio, I'd find it and make it happen. I was willing to do literally anything. Mugitsu was partially right, this _was_ my fault. If it weren't for me, Mio would still be here. I was going to own my mistake, but try to fix it.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Author's Notes: **_This chapter took a good while to write because this is essentially the third version of it. I wrote two other versions that feature Mugi doing stuff that lead up to this big night, but deleted it all since it was boring and just took up space. The first draft had some elements I may reuse later though, mostly Azusa telling Mugi about Ragnarok and the Aesir-Vanir war.

One other thing I wanted to throw out there. Mio's death here was something I had planned out before there was any sort of romance between her and Mugi. I want to make it abundantly clear that I'm not just killing her to get rid of the subpar romance plot that I know people don't like. Murder isn't my 'fix it' button, Mio's death is important for the plot that the story follows up to the very end.


	21. Guilt Is Murder

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 21**

**GUILT IS MURDER**

_I may be gone in the flesh  
>But my love will stay here<br>I am always with you in spirit  
>So just stay strong<em>

_No one wins tonight  
>No one gets a closure<br>No one walks away victorious_

_But don't forget me  
>Don't you forget me<br>Burn a candle for me when you can_

_~Last Statement _by _Insomnium_

Two weeks. Two weeks of being alone in my bed at Ui's Place without even my cat to keep me company. Two weeks of people constantly asking me how I was holding up. Two weeks of people treating me like I had cancer or something equally awful. It turned out that Mio and I being involved together wasn't any sort of secret. Even her father had suspicions, but I still hadn't met him face to face. From what I had heard from Ritsu, he wasn't handling the loss of his little girl well. He had spent a good sum of the remaining money from Bitterhearth's loot to hire his old advisor, a powerful mage, to come and see if Mio could be brought back to life through magic. While I wanted to see Mio again, more than anything, something about magic raising the dead just didn't sit well with me. Even with my own ignorant worries, I prayed for the best with this man.

How was I holding up though? Better than Lord Akiyama, but I wasn't exactly peachy. I cried a lot during the first three days, but decided I needed to be strong. Yui was my lifeline now, helping me each and every day get a little better with my sword. I wouldn't let Mugitsu win next time. If I wasn't practicing with her, I was standing in the snow, without my ring, swinging Talvimiekka down over and over again to build upper body strength. I spent some time with Ritsu too; mostly talking about Mio and listening to Ritsu tell happy stories about her. Ritsu was trying to be strong like me, forcing herself to smile and not letting the passing of her friend eat her away inside. I could tell she was struggling though, and itching for a chance to get back at Mugitsu. There was one thing she told me nearly every day, one thing that really helped.

_"It's not your fault."_

Something about those four words relieved some of the weight that was bearing down on my shoulders. I did feel guilty, and it seemed like she knew that. Meanwhile, I scarcely saw Azusa during thought fourteen days, like she was trying to make herself invisible. Yui said they still spent time together, but Azusa hadn't said more than a few words to me. I wondered what was wrong with her.

Right now Ritsu and I sat together on those rocks that Mio and I had met together at that fateful night. Talvimiekka rested between my knees, the blade's stainless tip embedded into the ground as I rested my chin on the hilt. Ritsu was next to me with a shaving razor, using it to carve Mugitsu's name into each and every one of her flaming arrows.

"Shouldn't you be wearing gloves for that?" I turned my head to see pinkish burns dotting her thumb and fingers. My voice was an octave lower than normal, and raspier than before. Inhaling acidic vapors had done wonders for my vocal cords. Raising my voice beyond talking level was almost impossible now since it would crack and break then. Mugitsu had left me like a boy going through puberty with his voice changing. Yuuko, the physician, and Mio's cousin, told me my vocal cords would heal, but not for some time.

"I'm fine." She exhaled, continuing her crafty work. "Burns heal."

"Yeah, I guess they do." I sighed, and looked down at my own calloused hands, grimy with dirt. "Do you know when Lord Akiyama's advisor is supposed to arrive? I need to know if we can… _save_ Mio."

"Today." Ritsu replied with a small, excited smile. "He's apparently really busy since really real nations like Canticeal and Lesfain, and even the Sentinels call on him for magic. They say he can find out anything with spells and, get this, he was the guy who first trained Mio how to really become a mage."

"I remember you two talking about him before. What was his name?"

"Lusefarian Selias." She answered. "When he shows up, do you want to come with me to hear the verdict? It should finally give you a chance to meet Mio's dad."

"I'd love that." I happily replied, a little irritated with my raspy voice though. "I hope him and I could get along even a little. Plus, it'd be nice to meet a powerful mage who isn't trying to kill everyone I love."

Ritsu stood up and offered me her hand. I took it, and she pulled me to my feet and said, "Come on, let's go wait in the council room."

"Council room, where and what's that?" I asked as we walked up towards the castle. Talvimiekka was in my right hand, blade wavering just above the ground in my grip.

"It's in the wing of the castle we don't let civilians, _you_, into." Ritsu explained. "It's where Lord Akiyama would conduct all the business involved with running a city-state. Before Mio, err, ran into Mugitsu, he'd always keep in there with mindless busy work trying to keep her away from us I think. Remember to be on your best behavior, we're dealing with aristocrats here. I think Lusefarian won't mind us, since we were such close friends to Mio."

"I hope so, Ricchan. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little afraid of her father since…" I gulped, and admitted guiltily, "…Mio-chan was with me when Mugitsu came."

To my surprise, Ritsu punched my arm, kind of hard actually. She shot me a look that a mix of angry and disappointed. "Mugi. This isn't your fault. Every time you try to say it is, I'm going to hit you from now on."

"Tough love, alright." I smiled through my teeth, and wished my other hand was free to rub my aching arm.

"No, negative reinforcement." She corrected me. "Sorry, but I'm not going to have everyone crying and frowning all the time. I'm not going to let Mio be remembered this way."

"But-" I went to say, but she cut me off while ruffling my hair.

"I miss her too Mugi, I mean, she was my best friend." Ritsu continued. "But, unlike your world, ours has magic. Lord Akiyama has a good bit of money, and noble lords using money to pay mages to bring loved ones back from the dead isn't rare at all. Mio and I actually knew a girl in Aibureido back when we were both little. She was around our age and passed away from getting terribly sick. Her family paid a mage from the west handsomely to resurrect her and it worked. She came back just the way she had been, no problems at all."

"We have stories about things like that in my world." I told her. "Where gods would intervene with magic to save people or bring them back to life. I think they were just stories though, and all of them happened very long ago. The really popular one happened around two thousand years before I was born. But, uh, anyway I'm really glad to hear this! This is such a relief to me! I was so afraid of all the violence in this world, but now that I know that people can be brought back to life, it doesn't seem so bad now!"

"I think our Mio is a special case though. Not everyone can afford a mage's services." Ritsu told me.

"But, we can." I reminded her with a smile. "If anything awful happens to our other friends, you and I can go and _borrow_ some more gold from Bitterhearth. I still have that wand lying around."

She laughed at that, and threw her arm over my shoulder. "Spoken like a true adventurer!"

**IN THE COUNCIL ROOM…**

The council room was accessed through a large set of gilded, decorated double doors in the courtyard. I would always see this door, and know it led to some wing of the castle people like me were forbidden to enter. Before Ritsu and I entered, we stopped at her room so I could drop my sword off, since it still didn't have a sheath. Someone needed to get around to making one. The council room was large, well lit with an extravagant chandelier that burned with fire that was a beautiful mixture of white and purple. A long table took up the center of the room, with comfortable chairs all around it. Wine and glasses were placed on a silver platter on the middle of it. The rest of the table was covered with all sorts of books and papers, a sure sign of a cluttered mind. The edges of the room were mostly lined with bookshelves filled with both expensive looking kitchenware, and more books. At the head of the table was a much fancier looking chair where a man sat.

He looked just past his middle years, with long black hair that was lined with silver streaks of age. Two lines of black facial hair served as his mustache, each reaching past his chin. That and his thin goatee made him seem like an old, proper samurai. Further accentuating the samurai image was his traditional style clothes; the kind of casual wear my own father wore when was home. Overall, he was quite handsome and I could see where Mio had gotten some of her looks. I could only imagine what her mother looked like too. He greeted us in a deep, almost commanding voice.

"Tainaka-san, you're here to meet Selias-san too?"

Ritsu nodded and replied in a polite tone followed by a polite bow, "Yes, Akiyama-sama."

I bowed as well, trying my best to look humbled by his presence. He was the local shogun, and seemed to have the same mentality the emperors of Japan used to have. I came to this conclusion because nobody ever saw him, and Ritsu here was being more polite than I had ever seen her.

"This is Kotobuki?" Akiyama looked towards me.

Ritsu answered for me, "Yes."

"Strange, I didn't figure her for a Varangian. Then again, it was only after the two of you fought alongside King Jalmari that I even learned that she was a woman." He didn't seem particularly impressed by me. In fact, he was practically scowling at me. "So… this is the woman whose incapable hands my daughter trusted her very life in. You're the one she would skip over her studies to visit and offered her very bed to. I expected a wandering ronin from our homeland, a swashbuckler type that her mother fell in line with. Instead I see this… a Varangian mercenary, possibly an ex-Infantry Breaker? Just what are you?"

His words were like a slap on the face to me. Despite his rudeness, I spoke in a soft, polite voice and replied, "N-No, Akiyama-sama, I'm a noble girl from, well, a different world."

I saw Ritsu cringe next to me. I suddenly realized how stupid saying that was.

"Oh… is that so?" He narrowed his eyes, looking at me like I had lied.

Ritsu, thankfully, vouched for me. "I met her in Jotunheimr, sir. She was underdressed for that land, and passed where the frost giants guarded Bifrost. We have no reason not to believe her, and she's been nothing but loyal and helpful to us."

"She's still the woman my daughter kept in such high regard and look where it left her." Akiyama's tone grew slightly more hostile. "I told Mio over and over again that I would pay for her safe trip to Aibureidon. She had countless men there that wanted to marry her. Good men from respectable families! She would have been happy with them, and bore me grandchildren. Instead she stayed here because she insisted that _you_ were somehow a proper suitor for her. Now she's dead and there's nothing left for me in this land. My wife… my daughter… the gods have seen fit to take away everything I hold dear! I hope your time with her was worth it, outsider."

I felt Ritsu's hand against my shoulder. I was too stunned to speak. He had torn me apart with those words, and I felt like I was about to cry. I stayed strong, but kept my mouth shut. Opening it would break the floodgates holding back tears.

"That isn't fair!" Ritsu shouted back at him. "Mugi was good to her, probably more so than any of those men in Aibureido. Mio… she was happy to the end, happier than I had seen her since Mugitsu started all of this. Speaking of which, get mad at Mugitsu instead. She's the one who's at fault."

"So even _you_ have the nerve to speak out against me." He growled at Ritsu. "It seems this woman has poisoned all your minds against me; against reason! You know I'm planning to give Sakuragyfli to Varyag and go back to Aibureido. I was going to offer you a chance to go back with us, since you've been a friend of Mio for so long. Now I'm not so sure."

"I'll stay here." Ritsu crossed her arms. "Even if you're willing to give up Sakuragyfli, I'm not. Whether it is with militiamen or Infantry Breakers, I'll defend this place to the end. It's my home now, and nothing Mugitsu does or throws at it will change that."

"I expected better from someone with noble birth." Lord Akiyama sneered. "It seems mingling with these common born really does corrupt. Hopefully others will learn from my daughter's mistakes."

"_I was not a mistake!_" I slammed my fists down on the table and screamed at him. "I wouldn't have fought against Poshkt, those giants, or brought you Bitterhearth's hoard if I had known you were like this. Mio inherited none of her goodness from you!"

Yes, I actually said this to the shogun of Sakuragyfli.

"You…" His hands were trembling from anger. Interrupting him though, were the doors bursting open and someone hastily walking in. It was another man, dressed in extravagant red robes trimmed with gold. He looked a bit younger than Akiyama, with black hair tied back loosely and dark colored eyes. His chin was coated in a neatly trimmed beard that just fit perfectly on him. I assumed this was Lusefarian the mage, and I had to admit he was quite good looking.

At his side was a child who looked similar enough to be his daughter or niece. Her skin was a bit darker, but not much. I placed her as being around maybe nine, ten years old. She didn't look happy to be here, and the fancy green dress she was wearing didn't look comfortable at all. It contrasted heavily with her free flowing black hair, that seemed like it should have been done up.

"Ahh, Lusefarian, welcome back to Sakuragyfli." Lord Akiyama rose from his seat, all anger now hidden.

"I see the place has fallen apart since my departure." Lusefarian looked around with clear disdain for his surroundings. His expression didn't seem arrogant though, just displeased at being there.

"Mugitsu hasn't really been gracious to us." Akiyama grumbled as he walked past us to shake the mage's hand.

Lusefarian apathetically met his handshake and replied, "Yes, that fallen Valkyrie who opens portals other worlds like it's going out of style. It's a shame we're both part of the Archmage Academy, or I'd step in and remove her for you all. The Archmages forbid the killing of members within the order, and she hasn't really done enough to provoke their anger."

"She murdered my daughter! Have you forgotten that Mio was applying?"

The mage shrugged, "We deal in many worlds beyond just Midgard, Akiyama. Mugitsu's harassment of these few city-states isn't enough to warrant her forceful removal. Not to mention that she's contributed much knowledge to our great library on her studies with teleportation and summoning. I actually have a bit of respect for-" He pushed past Akiyama and pointed at me. "Who is this?"

Akiyama stood there with a look of complete shock over how he had been so rudely shoved away for me.

Ritsu answered him, standing behind me with her hands on my shoulder. "This is Mugi, Mio's best friend."

I gave him a polite bow. "Pleased to meet you, Selias-san."

"You have no arcanite inside you." He declared. "That isn't possible; _every_ creature has even the smallest amount with them. I sense nothing in you."

"Arcanite, do you mean magic?" I asked.

He nodded, his expression still bored and displeased. "I don't understand, even if you were concealing the arcanite within you with a spell, I'd be able to sense past that. Explain."

"I'm… from another world. One without magic." I told him.

That actually prompted a look of surprise from him. "That's… that's not possible. I know such worlds exist, but they're impossible to reach. Magical teleportation requires gateways to be created in both locations. A world with no magic has no such power to draw from and create a door with. Therefore there is no way you could have left said world. Explain."

"I just went to bed and woke up in Jotunheimr." I explained. "Mugitsu was amazed as well, I think."

"The only explanation I can think of is divine intervention from the very gods, powerful ones." He then changed the subject like nothing had transpired between us, and addressed Ritsu. "Tainaka-san, how goes the development of your mental powers?"

"I just use them for going between here and the other worlds." She answered with a slightly forced smile. "No headaches or anything now, and I can bring other people."

"Good, good, you've been practicing." He nodded, arms crossed. "You're still young though, and I suggest branching out into other fields of psionic mastery. Psions are so few and far between that it would be an insult to the world to squander such a gift."

Ritsu gave a short laugh and scratched the back of her head. "Y-Yeah, maybe one day. It's not that easy though, trust me."

"Ahem." Lord Akiyama made himself known. "You arrived here for a reason, Lusefarian; you don't need to waste time interacting with these peasants."

"I'm in the presence of a magical anomaly and psion. I will waste as much time as I please, Akiyama." The mage shot back at him. "Your daughter won't get any more dead, and I just arrived here. Truly you are a bad host."

"If you disrespect my daughter's state again, I'll find another mage." Akiyama threatened.

"Save your anger, Akiyama." Lusefarian dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "I mean Mio no disrespect. I hold the girl in high esteem, she was a great pupil. Much better than this useless girl here I am cursed with!"

He then smacked the child next to him against the side of her head, quite hard. She reeled against the table from the force of the blow, but didn't cry out. She just bit her lower lip and remained silent. I felt awful for her, and wondered if I should speak out.

"I see you're as kind as ever to your daughter." Lord Akiyama rolled his eyes.

"I consider myself light on Ayumu despite how much of a failure she is." He shook his head at the little girl's direction. "She inherited all the worse aspects of her mother, and nothing from me. Honestly, Akiyama, Ayumu would be better suited for you and Mio for me. Ayumu is obedient but absolutely useless and is incapable of even the simplest spells. Mio is stubborn, rebellious towards you, and a powerful mage. I'd make that trade any day."

"Yes, how proud you would be to flaunt her powers to all the nobles in Canticeal." The shogun shrugged him off, and then redirected his anger at me with the point of his finger. "I'd also like to inform you that she's the one who's responsible for Mio's death."

"_What?_" Both I and Ritsu blurted out in unison.

Lusefarian looked at me, unconvinced. He then looked back to his host. "She killed Mio? I thought Tainaka-san said this was Mio's best friend. Was that a joke? If so, she's terrible at sarcasm."

"No, but had she not been here, Mio would still be alive!" Akiyama 'clarified'. By clarified, I meant used me as a target for all his anger.

"And if my daughter hadn't been born, my wife would still be alive, your point?" The mage almost seemed frustrated. "My point is you're looking like an angry kid pointing fingers at Mio's friend here. Stop it, you're just embarrassing yourself and making everyone think less of you. Mugitsu is the one you should be angry at from what I can gather. Wait…" He turned back to me. "Wait, I remember you! Mio wrote of you in her letters, you were the one she wanted to go to Lesfain with. Why is Akiyama getting angry at you, I thought you were the one who slew that vrock general without magic. No small feat."

"The one and only!" Ritsu bowed towards me.

"Yes, but the Sentinel Yui-chan helped." I was modest as always.

"Oh yes, Hirasawa, I know all about her." Lusefarian gave a deep chuckle. "Anyway, Akiyama, tell a chef to prepare something for all of us. In the meantime, I'll go and check on Mio. Where is she being held right now?"

"In her bed, behind locked doors." A flustered Lord Akiyama answered. "Our personal chef will prepare something, just come along with me here."

As he gestured for Lusefarian to follow him towards a door further into this wing of the castle, the mage held up for a moment. "Wait, I need to get rid of some deadweight." He gave a groaning sigh. "It's so hard to find a suitable babysitter for this kid… I don't have a single colleague with kids, and Carnajan isn't safe to leave her alone in. Mage hunters are going after children now and the daughter of a high profile person myself is too juicy of a target for those bastards to pass up."

"You're living in Carnajan now?" Akiyama raised an eyebrow. "You complained about the crowds in both Magierre and Lutvjarg, so you move to an equally larger capital?"

Lusefarian shrugged, now following after him. "I like to be close to the ruling body of Canticeal." He then addressed his daughter in English. "Ayumu, stay with these two for now." Then he addressed us in Japanese. "You two, watch after her while I'm gone. Just hit her if she acts up or starts wandering away."

"R-Right, sir." Ritsu scratched the back of her head.

"I couldn't do something like that!" I gasped.

"Heh, I can see why you got along with Mio then." He sighed at me before disappearing with Mio's father.

I kneeled down to the little girl, gave her a friendly smile and spoke in English as well. "Hello, I'm Mugi, and this is Ricchan."

"H-Hello." She shyly waved at me, blushing as well.

From beside me, Ritsu took a seat on of the chairs around the table. "Kid doesn't speak Aibureidon, go figure. Mio talked about her a few times, since she was born while Lusefarian was still her teacher. I guess his late wife was already really sick from some magic thing a really evil undead monster cast on her. The childbirth was apparently too much for her, and she died not long after. Lusefarian says he's not mad at Ayumu there for it, but anyone who's ever been around him knows that's not true. Mio says before his wife Maideen passed away, he was the happiest father ever. Heck, he was just an all-around pretty pleasant person in all aspects. Then, yeah, she gets sick and… well, you saw the way he is. No respect for Akiyama-sama, and hitting his daughter upside the head."

I stood back up, keeping half an eye on Ayumu as I replied to Ritsu. "That's sad, because he didn't seem like a bad person at all. So, you've been around Mio pretty much your whole life, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Ritsu asked.

"I was wondering what happened to her mother. Mio didn't really say much, do you know anything?" I asked.

She nodded, "Yeah, I can see why Mio wouldn't want to talk about it."

"How come?"

"I guess Mio was really attached to her growing up. I remember it a little bit, lots of hugs, kisses, and 'I love you-s'. Then one day, her mom just gets up and leaves with only a few possessions, a bit of her money, and a note. Everything else was left for Mio, who ended up with an early inheritance."

"What did the note say?" I then asked.

Ritsu stroked her chin, thinking. "Hmm, trying to remember exactly what it covered. I guess Mio's mom really hated the noble life and wanted a break. As much as she hated it, it was the life she wanted Mio to have so she left her behind. A couple years ago, Mio cast a Divination spell to try and find out where her mother was. She was _far_ away from Aibureido, and the spell pinpointed her as being in the middle of the ocean about two thousand miles east. Obviously she was on a boat, since you know, _middle of the ocean_. Mio's reaction was weird though, she accepted it without much more than a shrug."

"Hmm, now I can't help but wonder what she was thinking then." I found myself sighing. "Maybe she just wanted to know if her mother was still alive, or maybe she understood that her mother had a whole new life far away."

"That's what I thought." Ritsu nodded, then patted my shoulder and smiled. "We'll ask her later, okay? When she's all better."

"Yes, let's do that." I found myself smiling too.

**THAT NIGHT**

Lusefarian and Akiyama were gone awhile, leaving us with the near catatonic Ayumu. I tried making conversation with her, since she seemed like a cute little girl, but she seemed completely against saying anything to me. I felt bad for her, and wished there was something I could do. I didn't dwell on that though, since I was used to not being able to do anything helpful for people here. It got late quickly though, and Ritsu and I decided the least we could do is treat the poor girl to a good meal. So we went down to Ui's Place, since the all-powerful diviner could probably figure out where we went. I wished I had divination magic to figure out where things and people were. Then I would never lose my keys again. At this point in my life, that really wasn't on my list of worries though.

"How are you doing, Yui-chan?" I asked my Sentinel companion. In the rain, confusion, and vomited blood, it had been impossible to see how sliced up Yui had gotten during our battle with Mugitsu. Her arms were wrapped most of the way in bandage from her numerous sword wounds. Mugitsu's blade had gotten her many times in that fight. I felt guilt that I had come out unscathed (at least on the outside). Yui was the better fighter, so why did she have to take so much of the flak?

"I'll be fine in no time!" Yui happily replied, before eying me from top to bottom. "I still can't believe you don't have a scratch on you!"

"Well, you training certainly paid off." I grinned, blushing slightly from guilt. I didn't really want to tell them that Mugitsu's sword couldn't hurt me.

"And you got a good hit on her too!" Yui exclaimed. "That was incredible, and it means she isn't invincible!"

"Then I just need a good shot at her with my bow…" Ritsu said to the right of me. We were sitting at the bar, with Ayumu to Ritsu's right and Yui to my left.

"You'll get your chance, Ricchan." I told her, my constantly cheerful smile had been disappearing more and more as of late. This was one of the moments that it was gone. "I have to keep training too. Even if it takes _years_, I'll come back at her and win."

"Me too!" Yui chimed in from beside me.

"Yes, you too." I nodded.

It was so strange, this talk of revenge between the three of us. Wanting vengeance was wrong of me, petty even. It didn't solve anything, and an eye for an eye would make the whole world blind as they said. But, just knowing this wasn't enough to quell the feelings of rage inside me. I wanted Mugitsu dead, preferably from my own sword, Talvimiekka. At the same time, I was terrified at the idea of going to battle against her again. It was like being a Polish soldier charging a German panzer tank on horseback at the start of the second war. The sheer strength of her power and magic left me feeling utterly hopeless. If I could just find some way to match her though, well, things would be different.

"So, what's the news about Mio-chan?" Yui asked us after a moment of silence.

I shrugged. "We don't know yet. Selias-san the mage and Akiyama-sama have been gone a long time now."

"I see." She sighed, then instantly perked up. "Oh! That reminds me, Azu-nyan wanted to talk to you about something! She seemed upset though."

"Do you know why?" I asked her.

Yui shook her head. "No, she wouldn't say. Last I saw her was right at the edge of the woods. She's been there a lot, just kind of sitting alone. I asked what was wrong, but she won't talk to me. Earlier today she said she only wanted to talk to you. I think she's still there though."

I stood up right away. "I'd better go see her then. Ricchan, come get me if Lusefarian comes back, okay?"

"Sure thing." Ritsu gave me a thumbs up.

"Bye-bye, Mugi-chan." Yui waved me off as I quickly left to go see my other friend.

I moved at a brisk pace, eager to see what was wrong with Azusa. She had been avoiding me it seemed for the last two weeks, and maybe this would provide answers as to why. I wasn't oblivious to the fact that she was jealous of Mio; I just tried to push that realization away. With my Mio gone, I could only wonder how this was affecting her. I hoped she didn't see this as some kind of twisted chance to make a move on me, the person who just had their lover die. I _assumed_ Azusa wasn't the kind of person who would see that as an opportunity. I wasn't going to let her down easy if that were the case.

As I walked, I shook my head and mentally slapped myself for thinking my friends would do such bad things. They had always been there for me (except for when Ritsu almost got me killed), and I should have learned to trust them by now (even if Ritsu almost got me killed). It wasn't long that Azusa's shape appeared against the forest in the rapidly darkening twilight. She was sitting down, knees held close to her small body. Around her, dead grass was visible like she had shoved the snow away.

"_Azusa-chan!_" I shouted out with a wave, getting her attention immediately. My quick walk turned into a jog as I closed the distance between us.

She greeted me with a smile, one that wasn't forced or showed any sign of being fake. Azusa kept sitting down as she returned my wave with a small one of her own. "Mugi, good evening."

I sat down next to her on the cold ground, cold even with my ring. I didn't waste much time with pleasantries. "Azusa-chan, you wanted to talk to me?"

Azusa nodded. "Yes, I did."

"Is this about why you've been avoiding me ever since that night?" I asked her, fully blunt.

She winced at that. "I wasn't trying to avoid you…" She told me, looking apologetic.

"It's just the way it seemed." I replied.

"I'm sorry." She sighed. "No, I wasn't trying to avoid you, I was just afraid to confront you about something."

"You know you can tell me anything." I reminded her.

"Yes, I know, but…" Her nervousness was so palpable and thick that if it were a material thing, my sword would have trouble slicing through it.

"Azusa-chan, what's wrong?"

"I… I'm leaving Sakuragyfli." She told me, now nearly on the verge of tears.

"Y-You're leaving?" I whimpered, feeling my heart fill to the brim with sadness. I wasn't ready to lose another friend just yet.

She nodded, lower lip trembling. "I finally got a letter from my parents. They were able to move back to our old house and found where I was because, of well, you. Mugitsu is well known in the land of Nekonotochi, being that she destroyed the capital in the Fifty Skirmish War. My step-mom wrote about how she learned I was here because news of your few victories against Mugitsu's forces reached north. Somewhere in the stories, my name got thrown around, since I've been with you a lot. I need to go back to them, where my home is. You're such a good friend though, and I feel so awful for leaving."

"I… understand." I fought back tears, and bit hard on my lower lip. "I would do the same thing in your s-situation. If you're safe th-there, then all the better since danger always s-seems to follow me."

"I can't thank you enough though, Mugi." She told me as a few loose tears managed to slide down her cheek. "You did so much for me, and because of you I can go back home. I wish I had something to give you since you've only had things taken away from you lately. I'm sorry that I have nothing to reward you with, but I promise I'll make it up somehow."

"You already did!" I grabbed her into a tight hug, crying now. "You were my friend, and that's the only thing I need or could ever want from you!"

"Mugi…" Her sobbing voice said from within my embrace.

"If you go, you'll always remember me right?" I sniffled.

"Of course!" She cried, now hugging me back. "I wish so much that I could take you with me, and that we could be together forever. You know that I love you, and that you're my hero. In… in fact I'll even ask you to come with me! I want you to go to Nekonotochi with me, where you could live with me and my parents."

"I don't think I could do that…" I admitted. I was touched by her words though, and almost tempted to accept her offer though. I couldn't though, I would stay with Ritsu and Yui until this thing with Mugitsu was done and over with.

"I know, I know. I just needed you to know how I felt." She let go of me, but I kept my arm around her. She sniffled once, and continued as she wiped tears out of her eyes. "What will you do though? I know Lord Akiyama is leaving and taking a good amount of people with him back to Aibureido. Soon Sakuragyfli will be property of Varyag, and who knows what will happen then."

"I have to stay here with Ricchan and Yui-chan. The mage, Selias-san is going to tell us if Mio can be brought back to us, and may even be able to do it too with magic. I'm hoping the four of us will be able to try and stop Mugitsu once and for all, but I don't know. She tore into us like a hot knife into butter that night. The only reason I wasn't diced into pieces is because her sword is cursed and can't harm me. I don't know why that is, it just is. Don't get me wrong, I would like to go with you where it's safe, but… I just can't, Azusa-chan."

"I understand." She sighed. "I'll miss you though, Mugi-chan, and I don't think I'll ever meet anyone just like you again."

Just then, an idea sprang into my head. It prompted me to ask her, "Azusa-chan, how far away is your home?"

"About a two day walk from here. Neither of these two states are all that big, and it would probably be just a day long walk if there wasn't the mountains between there and Sakuragyfli."

"Then… can I walk you there?" I asked.

She perked up at my question. "Of course you can! That's actually a really good idea. I'd feel much safer with you with all those bandits and raiders hiding in the mountains. Plus, you could meet my moms and they could cook for you and tell you all the stories they know!"

"Wait, wait, wait, did you just pluralize _mom_?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah, about that…" She blushed and scratched the back of her head. "S-See, my mom and my dad have been friends for a really long time. My mom was married to a woman, an elf, but wanted a baby so… I think you can put together what happened. Before my dad moved back to Varyag, I went between them, mostly living with my moms."

"That's fascinating." I swooned. "I've never met an elf before, what's your step-mom like?"

It felt like our previous talk of her leaving hadn't just happened. Now we were happily having a conversation, and I was glad for it.

"Sellity is her name, it's elvish for _Beautiful Flower_ if I remember right." Azusa began. "_Beautiful Flower_ is a good way to describe her. She's a perfect example of elven beauty, and my mom goes on constantly about how she can't believe she married her. Elves have a thing in their culture though, where they fall in love with one person in their life. They don't pick, they're just able to figure out who the person is by just laying eyes on them. That's how Sellity found my mother, and they've been happily together sense from what I understand. I get most of my bard and skald things from Sellity too, since she's over three-hundred years old and knows so many stories, legends, and various bits of information on just about everything."

"She's three-hundred years old? That's incredible!" I gasped.

"And yet she looks your age." Azusa smiled. "Elves are immortal, never aging. It's kind of sad though, because Sellity lives with us humans. That means she's going to outlive everyone, including my mom."

"That is sad." I agreed. If Sellity was genocidal, Mio-killing monster, I'd be able to compare her to Mugitsu in that regard.

"Elves grow up realizing this, which makes it easier to bear if their one love isn't immortal like them." Azusa explained. "They only focus on the happiness they had with the people who died around them. Varangians are the same way too."

"I'm trying to be that way with Mio-chan." I told her with a sigh.

That was the magic word to pretty much make the conversation between us just fall apart. We sat in silence for a few minute before Azusa spoke up again. During those few minutes, I couldn't help but think about how much I was going to miss her, and how much I looked forward to meeting an elf. Plus, I was still eagerly awaiting the news that Mio would be returned to us only in a matter of time.

"There was something else though, that I feel like I need to tell you." She told me in what was nearly a whisper. "It's wrong, but I don't like keeping secrets from you. When I heard what Mugitsu had done to Mio, for a brief moment I felt both relieved and happy at the same time. A couple minutes later I felt awful for feeling like that, but it's the truth. I'm jealous of Mio, but I don't hate her. I just want her life."

"I see." I wasn't entirely sure how to reply to that. It was a little bothering to hear, but I didn't hold it against her.

"She has every last thing I could want." Azusa continued. "She has strong magic to protect her friends and herself, she's beautiful, she's a noble, and most of all: she has you. If I had just one of those things, I feel like my life would be improved in so many ways."

"Yui-chan and I both think you're cute though." I told her, blushing slightly. "I guess if we're going to say goodbye soon, I should tell you this. I love Mio, but… if she hadn't had captured my heart, I would gladly be with you. I'm sorry that Mio's there, I wish I could make you both happy, but I just can't. Please don't be mad at Mio for it."

"I'm not mad at her." She grabbed me into another hug. "Oh, why did you have to tell me that? I'm going to miss you more now!"

"I-I'm sorry if that made you sad." I apologized and was confused. She was hugging me, but sounded upset by my words.

"I'm not sad, I'm the exact opposite." Azusa gave a brief chuckle, one that made my heart flutter for some reason. "What you said makes me really happy, Mugi. I admire you so much, and the fact that you'd even consider me as more than a friend if circumstances were different means so much. I don't care if nothing will ever happen between us. That thought alone is enough to makes me so happy!"

"I'm glad you feel that way." I giggled. The relief felt amazing as I was finally able to make her happy in this regard for once. I felt happier than I had in these two weeks, and wasn't able to contain my glee. I hugged her hard, and gave her a kiss on the cheek, like the ones I had given Ritsu and Yui at Mount Kval. Upon the touch of my lips, Azusa went so red that I was afraid she was going to pass out.

I was really going to miss her. Despite my stern feelings for Mio, I did feel sad that nothing between Azusa and I would happen. I wished there was a way for me to have both, but that was being both unfaithful and greedy. It wasn't until news of Azusa leaving that I realized how much she meant to me. All her support, faithfulness, and affection had done so much to keep my spirits high. Without her, the future looked a little darker for me.

**THE VERDICT**

Azusa and I returned to Ui's place where I was able to finally get something to eat. Ritsu and Ayumu weren't there anymore, and it was past dark now. Azusa and I happily ate our meals while having an insignificant conversation with Ui. Tomorrow we would make plans for our parting journey. I tried my best to stay pleasant, but in the inside I was feeling awful about Azusa leaving. After our food, I went off to find Ritsu and see what was up.

In the dark, I found her sitting at our usual spot, atop those fallen rocks. She was leaning forward; staring down at the ground as she effortlessly twirled a flaming arrow between her fingers. Its fiery tip left orange circles in the black air around her, and would have been both impressive and beautiful if it weren't for the look on Ritsu's face. She was pale, with her eyes drooping and downcast. I knew that wasn't a good sign.

She looked up at me as I walked to sit down next to her. Ritsu shook her head, and told me what Lusefarian had told her. Her words sounded hollow and strained, as if speaking them put heavy strain on every part of her being.

"Mugitsu's spell, the one that killed her… It didn't just kill her like a normal spell would have. No, Mugitsu couldn't be content with just taking Mio away from us in body. That spell, Mugi, it erased her very soul from existence." Tears formed around the edges of Ritsu's reddened eyes. "Lusefarian said stuff like this is completely irreversible, and it'll probably have gods wanting her dead now. When we die, we're supposed to go to an afterlife depending on our faith. Death is just another step in existence, but Mugitsu took that way, Mugi!"

Those tears then spilled down her cheek, and her voice rose from a strained exhaled to full blown shouting. "Mio should have taken her place with the gods and lived happily there! Even if we couldn't bring her back with magic, we could have at least known she was at peace somewhere else. No, Mugitsu condemned her to eternal nothingness. We can't ever bring her back because there's no soul to return to her body! What Mugitsu did to her… it's unfathomable, I can't believe! I keep thinking this is some kind of dream that I'll wake up from, or some kind of horrible misunderstanding. It isn't though! _I can't wake up from this and I want my best friend back!_"

She screamed those words and grabbed into me, taking my quilted vest in her hands in a tight grip. My senses reeled and I tried to understand what Ritsu had just told me. The comfort people had here about dying was that the afterlife was supposedly some kind of paradise. Mugitsu had denied her, and us, that comfort though. I couldn't believe it, or fathom what eternal nothingness for Mio could be like. It felt like I was falling into some kind of black void of emotions. I wanted to scream, and just wake up like Ritsu wanted to. This had been all made worse from the expectations and hopes I had of seeing Mio again. Not only was she gone from me forever, but everything had just ceased to exist for her.

"Is there really no way to help her?" I whispered, unable to raise my voice beyond that meek exhale.

"Maybe a god could save her, but…" Ritsu sniffled and shook her head. "The gods wouldn't have any reason to help us here. They never help us mortals in our waking life, unless we need their strength in war."

"I won't give up." I said through gritted teeth. I shed no tears; I had none left. "If it takes a god to bring her back, then I'll find a god. I'll do whatever it takes, Ricchan, I promised myself that. Take me to Freyr, or some other Aesir, Vanir, whatever you call them. I'll convince them."

"How do you plan to do that?" Ritsu withdrew away from me, looking at me like I was crazy. "You don't understand, Mugi, the gods don't just help people like that! They either force you into some kind of insane bargain that is guaranteed to either kill you, or make you fail your side of the agreement. They don't even extend help like this to other gods! Not long before you came here, Baldr's brother was tricked into killing him. Baldr's tortured spirit was kept in the halls of Hel. Another messenger of the gods, Hermod, rode there to bring him back. Hel would only give Baldr back his life if everyone in the world would weep for his death. Think about that for a moment, Mugi. That's the kind of nonsense our gods try to get you to do!"

"Did everyone weep for him?" I asked, feeling foolish for doing so.

"_Of course not_!" She shouted at me, making me flinch back. "In fact, I was nearly killed for that whole thing because I got tricked into delivering the weapon that killed Baldr to his brother."

"That's awful!" I gasped.

"Now do you understand how hopeless this is?" Ritsu asked me, calming down a bit.

I sighed, and shook my head. "I said I'll do whatever it takes, no matter what. I'll get an audience with a god somehow and see what they want me to do. If they tell me to fight an army of trolls at Mount Kval by myself, then I'll happily die trying. Because, if it weren't for me being here, Mio would still be-"

"Don't you dare blame yourself!" Ritsu shouted at me.

"Well we both know it's true!" I shouted back at her. "No matter how many times you tell me it's not my fault, I can't accept that it. It shouldn't have been me who Mio fell in love with. Things would have been so much better for everyone if it hadn't ended up like that. Mio-chan would still be here, you'd have her, and Azusa-chan would be happy too. This is my fault, so I'm going to make it right."

"You really feel that way, don't you?" Ritsu gave a sigh of defeat.

"I do." I adamantly declared. "Nothing anyone says is going to change this."

"Not that I think you really have a chance in Nifelheim at actually succeeding, but if you think you found some way… don't hesitate to call on me, Mugi. I'll help, because I loved Mio too."

"Glad you have confidence in me." I cracked a small smile.

"Everyone loved Baldr, but even he couldn't be brought back." Ritsu told me. "Honestly, I don't think you have any hope of getting a god to help you. If you do, then yeah, I'd die for the cause too."

"Ricchan…" Despite her lack of faith in me, I felt happy to hear her words. Having some kind of ally on my impossible quest felt great, even if I had no idea what I was going to do. After Azusa and I departed, I decided I would work towards trying to commune with one of these gods. When I said I would do whatever it took, I had meant it. It was either that, or just around doing nothing and feeling sorry for myself. My revenge towards Mugitsu could come later. She was immortal; she could wait until I had Mio at my side. I felt a bit giddy at the idea of working around her spell, and rubbing it in her face when Mio was alive and in my arms again.

Maybe Ritsu was right though, maybe I didn't have any sort of chance. Even if this quest of mine could very well result in my death depending on what the gods wanted from me, I would work forward towards it. I had no fear of death, because it was like Ritsu had said, it was only part of my existence. If I could somehow work from beyond the grave to bring Mio back, I'd do it. Eila had been brought back to continue her mission, so there was nothing saying the same couldn't apply to me.

Whatever it took, I would give Mio back her breath.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Aaaand Author's Notes: **__So, this is basically the plot the rest of the story is going to follow to the end. There'll be a lot of adventures, many battles, and Mugi's gonna have to work for her happy ending. The premise of this was inspired by the story of Hermod, Baldr, and Hel. It was actually in chapter 9 that Ritsu reference delivering the mistletoe weapon to Baldr's brother. In the Norse Myth, mistletoe was the only thing that Baldr could be killed with (like the Greek myth with Achilles). So, the trickster god Loki fooled his blind brother into accidentally murdering him. Hermod rides to Hel, and Hel makes her an offer. Everyone in the world weeps for him except Loki; and Mugi because I'm an idiot who left that as a plot hole. Anyway, there's a song by _Amon Amarth_ called _Hermod's Ride To Hel_ that's pretty awesome and sums things up. Also, somewhere in that myth, Thor kicks a dwarf into a bonfire for no fucking reason, which is pretty awesome._

_As always, I really appreciate reviews and comments. Remember, any questions or requests are welcomed and stuff. I mean, if you got stuff you'd like to see, now's the time to ask._


	22. Ice Cold Blood

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 22**

**ICE COLD BLOOD**

_"You're perfect yes, it's true  
>But without me you're only you<br>Your menstruating heart  
>It ain't bleedin' enough for two"<em>

_~Midlife Crisis _by _Faith No More_

Azusa's magical portable carrying space made traveling light a cinch. My sword, her stuff, and what little I called my own was packed in there for our journey. We would head north, past Icenborgir, and through the mountains via a pass where a village was supposed to stand greeting us. Past there, it was a straight shot through the snowy plains to her destination.

Two days had passed since Lusefarian arrived with his help. I had expected Yui to be quite stricken over Azusa leaving, but she didn't seem to be bothered at all. I knew Sentinels moved around a lot and she was probably used to saying goodbye, but I felt like the two of them were more than that. I spent much of those two days wondering if I should leave Azusa with a kiss when we parted. It was unfaithful towards a certain someone, but I felt like these circumstances were special. I knew my heart would show me the right answer when the moment arrived. It was never wrong about these sorts of things.

The one thing I really wasn't looking forward was that I would have to haul everything I brought there back. In Azusa's portable handy pocket dimension I had two near identical changes of clothes, my sword, and trail rations. My outfit consisted of a huntress's tunic, a deep green color that had my forearms free and went down to my knees. Below it I wore black tights with two high leather boots, and a black belt around my waist. I wasn't looking forward to walking back two days alone at all. Maybe when we were there, I could find some kind of way to either make or find a sheath for Talvimiekka. In fact, that was probably something I should have done already.

"Did you say goodbye to everyone, Mugi?" Azusa asked as we walked side by side together from Ui's place. Our destination was the winding road that travelled north-west along the mountains then straight north for Nekonotochi.

"I did." I replied. "Yui-chan said she's gonna be lonely with me and you gone for a bit, or forever in your case… Maybe she and Ricchan can take my absence as a time to get to know each other more. In my world they were nearly best friends, here I can't say the same at all."

"Maybe they just need some time." Azusa suggested.

"I hope so." I sighed. "Will you ever come back and visit Yui-chan?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't think I can."

"Oh." I winced at her words. "Did… something happen between you two when you told her you were leaving? She cares for you very much; I can't imagine she was happy to hear you're going."

Yet, for some reason Yui hadn't seemed any different over the last couple days or even earlier that day. She was her same old cheerful self, and had happily wished us both a safe journey. Something about this didn't make sense. We were now passing the area where Mio had… where Mugitsu had met us that one faithful night. There were scorch marks all across the ground, and I felt uncomfortable walking here.

"Nothing happened." Azusa answered, quietly. Her eyes were down cast towards the dirt road below us, and I could tell something was wrong. We walked side by side, and the only sounds came from the wind rustling through the trees and our soft boots upturning dirt and snow below our feet.

"You didn't tell her you were leaving, did you?" I deducted.

She stopped walking briefly, and her face had a momentary look of surprise. She suppressed her expression and continued walking with me. Slowly, Azusa nodded. "I couldn't do it Mugi."

"What do you mean you couldn't?" I was almost shocked that she could be so careless towards Yui's feelings.

"Every morning she hugs me, and is so happy to see me." Tears were building up at the corner of her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but that only made them slide down her cheek. I hated watching her cry, because it made me feel like I was going to do the same thing. She took a deep breath and continued with a slightly quivering voice. "I see her smiling face, and I can't tell her I'm leaving and that I'll never see her again. She kept offering to me to go with her when she left. She said she'd tell the Sentinels I was a squire and that we could be friends wherever we went. She was so excited, and I smiled and told her it was a lovely gesture, but I'd have to think about it. I need to go home though, Mugi. I just couldn't tell her though."

I turned around and could see Sakuragyfli clearly behind us. "We should go back and tell her. It's the right thing to do!"

"I can't, Mugi!" She cried, grabbing at the hem of her skirt.

"She's going to wonder where you went when I come back alone. What should I tell her then?" I raised my voice, not even realizing I had. I had backed her into a corner I hadn't even meant to. "Let's turn around right now so we can have a proper farewell."

"I told you, I can't!" Azusa cried once more.

"And why not?" I asked, a teensy bit frustrated.

"B-Because…" She whimpered, fighting back tears in vain. She sniffled, and wiped her face with the back of her sleeve. "It's too hard, and too sad. I don't want to see Yui sad."

"She's going to be sadder if you don't tell her." I told her.

"I was hoping… that… that you could tell her." Azusa sniffled.

"Me? why me?"

"B-Because you're really good at making people feel better. You would make her less sad. You could make something up. Tell her that… that my parents are travelling heroes who need me to go fight dragons somewhere with them or something."

"Now you're being ridiculous!" I scolded her.

"I know, I know!" She was fully sobbing now. "I can't help it, I just can't confront her. Please, please, please just come with me and talk to her yourself later. I'd rather just not even go than have to tell her."

"What about your parents though?" My voice was level again, calm and sympathetic. The way it should have been.

"If I stayed here, I'd write them and tell them that I was staying here until Mugitsu was dealt with and Yui had to move on." Azusa answered. She composed herself a bit, and was no longer crying.

"You'd really postpone meeting your mothers again to avoid this?" I asked while placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. We walked, away from Sakuragyfli.

She nodded, eyes downcast again and shrugged. "It's not like my step-mother is getting any older."

I took a deep breath and felt myself giving into her wishes. I didn't particularly want to see Yui upset either. Maybe she was right; maybe I could tell my Sentinel pal in a way that wouldn't have her staining her yukata with tears. It was such a nice yukata too. I heaved a sigh, and told her, "Fine, I'll give her the news. I'll come up with something like you said. You _have_ to promise to write her and visit her when you can. Okay?"

"Okay." She nodded once. "I can do that. If you're the one to tell Yui that I won't be coming back to Sakuragyfli, then I'll do my best to keep in touch with her."

"Maybe I'll tell her that you didn't plan to stay, it just happened." I said as I looked up at the darkening sky. The day was warmer than usually, which meant there would be rain instead of snow if a storm happened. Warmer was a funny way of describing the weather, since it was still cold enough to freeze the panties off someone. Something told me that Sakuragyfli being cold was nothing new to the people reading my tale.

I didn't really enjoy the thought of lying to Yui, but I believed it was possibly for the best. In a way, I could understand why Azusa felt this way. Yui was the last person any of us wanted to see sad. If her morale and spirit were left shattered and broken, it was a sure sign that things were _not_ alright for us. Thankfully, the day that Yui's smile was gone and her spirit was destroyed would never come.

**AHEAD**

As we continued our journey, the topic of our conversation turned to me, and Azusa began asking about my life in Japan. She seemed to be insatiably curious about what how Japan's culture compared to Aibureido's. From what I could tell, this Aibureido was like Japan in the way that it was an archipelago with plenty of mountains and heavy precipitation. I ended up turning the conversation around on her, learning more about that country than she did about Japan. According to her, it never snowed or got remotely cold in Aibureido, which meant it was fully tropical. She also told me about how it used to take up three times as much total space, but many of the islands east of it were lost to hordes of demons and monsters from other worlds. The islands were more spaced out than the ones in Japan, and there was no central mainland either. What fascinated me the most was how all of the major cities were actually magically built underwater in shallow areas. She hadn't ever been to one of those cities, but she told me that they were unanimously described as being absolutely beautiful. The space beneath the water was hollowed out, making a giant livable sphere against the sandy bottom for people to live in. There was about fifty meters of water between the top of the city and the surface of the waves, so the sun still shone for them. Apparently this underwater hideaway made for a great defense because no demons could effectively take over a city like that. If they did, the magic keeping the water away from it would fail and all the demons would drown. This, of course, would kill any humans still residing there under demonic rule. Azusa assured me that drowning would be a much better fate than being subjugated to slavery by these evil creatures. I wasn't in any position to question that.

We had been walking a good while now, and were just passing a crossroad. I recognized where we were now, it was the place where Mugitsu had wiped the floor with me and my three friends the day I killed Shiverclaw. It was also the day I met Azusa, got betrayed by Ritsu, and had my first kiss. I had been a busy bee that day alright. In the distance, to the east, I could just make out Icenborgir under the still dark sky. The road split off west, with a sign kindly informing my ignorant self that it led to Varyag. The way we were going still went north, and was soon about to enter the mountains. That same sign that told me about Varyag being one way also relayed to me that a village resided in the mountains, and was a five-kilometer hike from here. The village was called Tartungar's Grave. That was an awfully creepy name for a village in some mountains.

"Hmm, it'll probably be night by the time we make to that village. We should stay the night there." Azusa suggested.

Staying the night there instantly reminded of a little work of fiction called _The Shadow over Innsmouth. _Naturally, I asked with a bit of worry in my voice, "Why is it called Tartungar's G-Grave? That sounds really spooky, and being in the spooky mountains doesn't make me feel any better."

"Oh, right, you don't know the myth about Tartungar, the vomit eater." Azusa sounded like she was scolding herself for forgetting that I didn't know about these things.

"Vomit…eater?" I made a face of disgust at that title.

"Mhm." She nodded as we continued our walk to the mountains. "He was a dragon god who was one of the many cruel gods that enslaved humans before the old civil war amongst the deities. He was called the vomit eater, because instead of breathing fire or lightning like other dragons, he spewed up acidic bile on people and ate them while they were stuck in place by it while slowly being dissolved."

"That's the single most unpleasant thing I've heard in at least four days." I frowned.

"This was over eighteen hundred years ago, Mugi, so he's long gone." Azusa told me. "They call this town Tartungar's Grave because it's where the last battle between him and the Sentinels took place back then. Nobody knows if he was killed or not, there was no sign of him or the Sentinels that battled him, but nobody's seen Tartungar since the fight. He's actually the reason the Sentinels even exist today. They formed to fight him when he went on a genocidal rampage when his city of slaves revolted. It was an elf, Melody Depuis, who banded together the world's single best warriors to fight him and anyone else threatening humans or elves."

"Depuis… I recognize that name." I thought hard to remember where I had heard it.

"She's the leader of the Sentinels." She informed me. "She's still is in charge even now, since elves are immortal and don't age."

"That's where I heard her name!" I suddenly remembered. "She sent Yui-chan a letter after Eila-san was, uh, wounded. Wow, Yui-chan's work here must be important if the head of her group is sending her letters."

Azusa shrugged. "Maybe. They say that Depuis somehow knows each of the ten thousand or so Sentinels by name. She knows their fighting style, their number of successful operations, and failed ones as well. Some people think she's a god or demi-god, since that would explain how she's able to keep tabs on so many people."

"It sounds like she's the mother of a big family." I remarked. "Do you know if she's a kind person?"

"I don't." She replied. "Motherly might me a good way of describing her, just from what I've heard from Yui."

"Has Yui ever met her?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think she told me that she did once or twice. The first time was when she first became a Sentinel. Depuis shook her hand, and that was it. The second was when she got some medal for defending Aibureido's capital, Mikomi, when a powerful demon somehow managed to get inside."

"I remember that story. It was when she got her melancholy curse, I think."

God, I almost forgot the way Yui used to be before we found that potion in Bitterhearth's hoard. Dull, unhappy, speaking in monotone. She used to behave like a few of those otaku I shared a class with in junior high. Actually, comparing her to them was a little unfair since those people always gave off a murderous aura around me. I decided to stop thinking about otaku because that always led to me going on a mental tangent about how they all were single handedly responsible for the death of artistic integrity in the modern anime industry.

Thinking about Yui's old behavior made me also think about my previous, rampant naïveté. Walking alongside Azusa, I quietly chuckled to myself as I remembered how clueless and foolish I was not all that long ago. Sword-chan was there to butcher all my problems and death as this abstract concept I didn't believe could happen to me or any of my friends. It was a simpler time when my biggest worry was the cold. Looking back, I was astounded at myself with some of the incredibly dangerous positions I had been in. That bandit attack on the bridge where I took a crossbow bolt to the leg instantly came to mind. Had that been aimed slightly higher, I could have been killed. Not to mention the battle with Poshkt, or my slaying of Shiverclaw. I honestly couldn't understand how I was still alive after all the things I had been subjected to. Not to mention that one spider…

This all made me wonder how and when I would die. I hoped that if I did go out in Midgard, it would be at the end of a climactic battle where I bravely sacrificed myself to save all my friends. I'd be okay going out that way, because it was really noble. Dying of old age while surrounded by all my loved ones didn't sound bad at all either. Except, that second option didn't seem all that likely if I stayed here forever since everything seemed to be trying to kill everything else. In the saddening likely event that I did end up getting killed in a less-than-glorious way, I prayed it was either instant or at least not too painful. None o' that torture or being digested stuff.

I also wondered if I should write up a will at some point. My swords would go to Yui, and my panties would go to Azusa. There, that was easy.

We were now entering the foothills of this steep, treacherous mountain range. It was mostly just rock and dirt, and wasn't pleasant to look at all, as compared to Mount Kval. This place was dead and pretty much monochrome with black rock against white snow. I saw other paths leading through the hills in other directions as well. It looked like this entire region was a maze, and I was suddenly beginning to realize how prone to an ambush we were.

"I'm sorry." Azusa said out of nowhere.

"Huh?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"Sorry for… making you come with me, and then having to walk all the way back. Sorry again for making you have to confront Yui too. I feel really bad about it, and when we get to my mothers' home, I'll see if I can't find one of their antiques to give you as some kind of reward. They have a lot of magical jewelry, but most of it just enchantments to make you a better killer."

"Don't feel bad." I shrugged. "This is just how things turned out. I don't need any reward. I'm just happy knowing you're safe and sound."

There were a hundred angsty things I wanted to say, but I kept them to myself. Despite what I had just said, I wasn't exactly happy with all of this. I didn't like how she had told me on such short notice that she was leaving, I didn't like the idea of walking through these mountains by myself, and I didn't like the idea of being the bearer of bad news towards Yui.

"If you just keep giving, you're not going to have anything left for yourself." She sighed. "All I see you do is just help others and risk your life for them all while being the nicest person any of us has ever met. I have to wonder, what do _you_ want?"

"What do I want?" I repeated.

"Yeah." Azusa nodded. "There has to be something you want. Fame, fortune, power, everybody wants something, right?"

"I just feel good making other people happy." I replied with a smile. "It's hard to explain, but I feel so fulfilled whenever I do something that makes my friends smile. I feel even better if I'm able to protect them…"

_I want Mio-chan alive in my arms again,_

_ I want to go home._

_ I want Pickles the Cat back as his old self._

_ I want to get revenge against Mugitsu…_

I took a deep breath and then finished my thought, "…there are some other things I want, but they're sort of personal."

There was a reason I why liked giving so much, why I bled my heart out so much for those close to me. It had in part, something to do with the way I was raised. My father spoiled me; I have absolutely no doubts about that. If I even mentioned in passing that I liked something, or wanted it, he would go out of his way to make sure it was mine as fast as he could. Shortly after I turned eighteen, we were watching television and I mentioned that a car featured in a commercial looked nice. My father then went and tried to buy it for me that very day. I stepped in and stopped before he could do so, and insisted any car I owned was purchased by money I had earned.

In primary school and junior high, I looked around and saw that none of my peers had the luxuries I was so used to. Their lunches were maybe a fifth as extravagant as mine. They never ate at fancy restaurants four times a week, or got to go to vacations to places like Finland or Hawaii each summer. The other girls didn't get to go to salons to have their hair professionally done, nor were they able to keep up on all the latest fashion trends. When I visited them outside of school, I was bombarded with praise and admiration for my wealth, taste, and style. None of these things were things I had earned on my own though. Whatever I had, I tried to share with those around me however I could. Whether it was bringing them snacks and tea, giving up my place in line, or even giving up my whole lunch; I love giving and making people happy.

"If there's anything you want that I can help you have, just tell me." Azusa told me. "I'd feel so much better if I could give back to you somehow."

"Well, I can think of one thing…" I placed my finger on the tip of my chin and smiled. "You're so good with your hands and my shoulders and feet are just killing me."

I had expected to react to that positively, since she had been so eager to give me a message before. Instead, she looked horrified at my suggestion. I mean _genuinely _horrified like I suggested we give watersports a try.

I frowned slightly, "Never mind then."

"_Behind you!_" She shouted, pointing a finger towards whatever lay out of my field of vision.

"Eh?" I turned around and saw what she was worried about, and then kind of wished I hadn't.

Some five meters behind me, some kind of hulking undead monstrosity was lumbering towards at a power-walking speed. It wasn't like the useless undead from before, which just seemed to be reanimated human warriors. Oh no, this was a_ troll_ zombie, and it looked quite excited see us. Its skin was a bluish gray color, tattered in many places, and slightly frozen over. The skin around its fingers was weathered and torn, turning its hands into mostly bony claws. Yellow and black teeth snapped at us, and snow rested on its head and shoulders. Behind it, I saw snow ripple and burst upwards as a second pulled itself out of the ground.

"Are you kidding me?" I blurted out, strangely angry at this development instead of scared. "I just wanted a foot-rub and now the living dead are after me again! Hand me Talvimiekka, Azusa-chan."

"Are you going to fight?" Azusa asked as she dug through her portable hole for my weapon.

"Not if I can help it, but Yui-chan says having your weapon ready is the first step to not dying!" I replied, and took my sword from her. I spun it once in my hand, something I had been practicing to do ever since I got it. Despite its heavy weight, I was able to twirl the blade like a certain JRPG character could before holding it properly in one hand. I grabbed Azusa's wrist and pulled her along as I ran down the path. "Come on, Azusa-chan, let's see if we can't outrun this bad guy."

"R-Right!" My flustered little friend had to push herself to keep up with my much more athletic pace. From behind us, I heard the zombie troll give a low, hungry and frustrated moan. From the sides of the path, more trolls burst from the ground, all howling and growling for us.

"You neglected to mention we were walking through a graveyard." I grumbled, still keeping my fast pace.

"I didn't know!" Azusa told me. "When I left for Sakuragyfli the pass was completely safe. There were even soldiers from both Varyag and Nekonotochi patrolling it."

As we ran uphill into the mountains, we began to pass pine trees, each with a dusting of snow above them. I was getting exhausted quickly now, because this snow was a lot more powdery than the snow before. It made running a pain as my feet sank up to knees. My thick leather boots weren't good for this kind of terrain. What I needed were snow shoes. It was darker beneath the trees, and for a moment I wondered if we were safe. Had we not been fleeing undead monsters, I would have found this place enjoyable. The smell of snow and pine forest was absolutely tantalizing to the nose. I only was able to enjoy this sensation for mere seconds before I saw dark shapes lumbering towards us from the shadowy confines of the woods.

"They just won't let me have anything!" I ranted and tried to think fast. They were moving faster than us, and could probably catch up if we just kept heading straight. I wondered if it was worth fighting them, because the other dead had gone down so easily. I didn't want to risk it, since I functioned much better with troll claws outside my body as opposed to inside. There was coming up on our left, and three to our right. The ones to the right were only shadowy shapes, and we had put some distance to the ones behind us. That left one was the only one that was going to be a problem. I let go of Azusa and made up my mind. "Okay, let's slow down a moment. These things are having as much trouble with the snow as we are. We'll keep moving up the path and I'll deal with the one of the left."

"Even if they were once trolls, I think you can handle undead." Azusa assured me as we trudged through the snow side by side. "They're slow, and you're become such an excellent swordswoman under Yui's training."

"Well, we'll see how true that is in just a moment." I sighed, not entirely sure of my own abilities. I gripped Talvimiekka in both hands, and was mentally going over all the essential things Yui had taught me. I already had my sword ready, I had it ready, and I was relaxed. I was calm, confident, and was ready to access the situation. It was going to be harder since this wasn't a sword fight, and those were the things Yui trained me for.

"It's coming!" Azusa warned me. She was right; the dead troll was making better time than we were as it stomped through a part of the forest floor that was more devoid of snow.

"Keep moving, I'll keep you covered from behind!" I shouted towards her, and raised my blade. I took the proper stance, and kept my elbows close to my body.

The beast came charging at me, one claw swinging towards my upper body as it kept moving. I ducked quickly, coming just below its mighty swing, and I scrambled to get behind it. This was good; I now had a small bit of distance between me and it, and had an idea of its method of attack. Azusa was some ten meters away, watching from behind a large cedar tree. This was okay; she was away from the battle. My quick movement gave me a strict advantage, and I was able to deliver a horizontal slice across my foe's back. Talvimiekka cut through rotting flesh like it was cotton candy, and black fluids began pouring from where I had done my damage.

The troll zombies quickly turned around in a staggering movement to face me. As it turned, I kept strafing to the side, stopping it from facing me one on one. This fight needed to end quickly. My lungs were burning from exhaustion and my legs were aching like hell. Adrenaline was keeping me going at this point. Yui warned me about this, how fatigue was my greatest enemy.

My enemy's claws both came down at me in a single swiping, vertical arc. I shuffled and strafed backwards, and watched his claws harmlessly impact against snow. He was vulnerable now, and I followed this up with a counterattack. I swung my sword down at his wrists, like Yui had done to Joutro, and removed the dead creature of both his hands. It fell forward a bit, apparently not feeling pain, but completely off balance. I raised my blade and went for his knees this time, cutting through blue flesh and cracking bone before I withdrew Talvimiekka. The zombie fell forwards onto his good knee, and held himself up with the rotting stumps of his hands. Still working on adrenaline, I finished the fight with a quick decapitation. The shining blue blade that was mine easily severed the head off the dead monster's shoulders. Its rotting head splattered into the snow and stained it with black goo that could have once been blood. The headless corpse slumped over and stopped moving.

Panting, my sword was still imbedded in the snow. I swept it up again and began marching through the deep snow as fast as I could to Azusa. She had fled back a bit from the fight, and was now trying to get back to me.

"No, keep going, don't stop!" I shouted to her, feeling those words sting against my damaged throat.

_Thanks Mugitsu, you gave me a gift that just keeps on giving!_

"A-Alright!" She turned around and kept going. I shot a glance over my shoulder and saw those other trolls had made some good distance while I was dealing with their awful friend. I wasn't feeling so hot about having to keep fighting. I was about to pass out from fatigue and there was no telling how far we'd have to run for safety.

Something happened though, a miracle of sorts then and there. The ground began to shake violently, throwing me forward, face down into the snow. Through the rapid shaking I did my best to get to my hands and knees to look behind me. The zombie trolls were tossed around by the quaking, and were being buried by the snow falling from the titan like pine trees around us. This was an earthquake, I was able to figure out, and it came at a pretty good time. The snow falling from those trees didn't spare me, and soon I was getting pelted from above by heavy, even painful piles of it.

The earthquake continued for only a few more seconds, and during it I was completely buried by the snow, face first to the ground. My ring made the cold feel far away, but the weight of the snow on my back was uncomfortable. Talvimiekka was still in my hand, and breathing was a little difficult where I was. Pushing through exhaustion, I fought to the surface, struggling to lift the kilograms of fallen snow and ice off me. It took a few seconds, but I eventually breached it like a dolphin bursting from the waves. My head was spinning as I looked around. The land had been painted entirely white by nature's might, and the trolls were buried. I didn't see Azusa though, which was definitely a problem.

"_Azusa-chan!_" I called out to the eerie silence around me. From behind me, a troll's dead hand burst from the snow some five meters away.

_Perfect, this is just what I need. Next thing I know there's going to be White Guard snipers thinking I'm part of the Red Army hiding in the snow. Honestly, that wouldn't even surprise me now._

I scrambled forward through the heavy snowfall, using one hand to keep myself from falling forward into it, and the other to hold my sword. I took a deep, strained breath and shouted out again, "_Azusa-chaaan!_"

This time I was rewarded by the snow ahead of me rippling a bit, with bits of powder flying upward like a volcano of ice erupting. That was what I had been looking for. I pressed myself forward, pushing against the limits of my physical endurance and was using my hands just as much as my feet to move towards her. Falling to my knees, I tossed my sword aside and began frantically digging through the snow to get her free. Even with my ring, the cold made my fingers go numb and I knew without it, it would be extraordinarily painful here. Dark colors of her clothes appeared past the white, and I felt immense relief surge through me. I grabbed at her, my hands finding her underarms, and pulled her free with a mighty yank while grunted from the exertion.

"Mugi!" She cried and threw her arms around me, hugging me tight and making me fall onto my back. Despite myself, I laughed partly from relief that she was safe and party from her happy enthusiasm to see me. I hugged her back as we sank some centimeters into the snow.

"You're okay now… you're okay." I repeated aloud, breathlessly.

"I think you just saved my life, I couldn't move the snow at all." Azusa said in an exhilarated voice. "This is too much though, we should go back!"

I groaned at sat up with her. From where we had come from, I saw one zombie troll had broken free from his wintery tomb and was stumbling through the snow at us, much closer than I would have preferred. I could smell it. It smelled like freezer burned rotting meat. Yuck. From behind it, I saw even more breaking out of the snow once more.

"Keep going." I told her. My lungs were screaming for a break, but I couldn't oblige them. I gently pushed her away and went for my sky-like sword, standing up and gripping its comfortable weight in both of my numb hands.

"Okay, but hurry!" She sounded frantic as she trudged ahead, constantly looking back to check on me.

Running on second wind now, I made an awkward charge through the snow and went to deal with this undead threat as quickly as I could. The wind kept whipping my blonde hair into my eyes, making it difficult to see my enemy. It was only seconds away from catching up with us, so I closed the distance between us in one quick movement, sword reared back for a single strong swing.

Acting before the troll could, I swung high and cut its throat with the tip of Talvimiekka. It wasn't a full decapitation, its head was only half off, but it was enough to send it falling into the snow beside it. The rotten zombie troll spasmed a bit, like the wound had cut off most control it had of its body. That was good enough for me; I quickly turned around and made after Azusa, feeling like I was just going to collapse now.

"Okay… we're in the clear now." I panted, holding my sword out to her. "Put this away, it feels like holding it is going to make my arm snap off."

"Alright, got it." She carefully avoided the blade as she took it from me and stashed it away in her magical space there. Just by jogging, we had put some safe distance between us and our undead pursuers. "You were great back there Mugi!" Azusa excitedly exclaimed. "I saw that first fight! You looked so cool and collected while strafing around that first one and slicing it to pieces."

"Yui's training really helped." I was modest, as always. "I was kind of scary though, because I didn't know how fast it would be. Thankfully it was slow, and my sword is really sharp. How far until Tartungar's Grave? I really need to lie down I think."

"Two or three hours maybe." She answered, not looking entirely sure.

I looked ahead in the forest, and saw how much high snow I would have to trudge through. I gave a heavy groan, "It feels like my legs are going to turn into pudding…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Azusa gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm not as athletic as you, this is really hard. I didn't think there would be this much snow."

I noticed one of her twin tails was nearly undone from being buried in snow, and the other one wasn't looking too great either. I stepped closer to her, and reached my hands out towards her hair. "Here, I need to fix your hair. It doesn't look as cute while messy."

"Alright, heh, thanks." Her giggle somehow lifted nearly all of tension of this situation. With my minor training in cosmetology, I went to correcting her hair with my practiced hands. Doing it while walking in the snow was an unforeseen challenge.

"Ouch!" She winced as I accidentally got a lock of hair around my finger and tugged slightly. It wasn't on purpose!

"Sorry! Sorry!" I quickly apologized and tried to fix this. It was harder than I thought; she had a lot of hair to work with.

"Maybe we should slow down for a moment." Azusa suggested.

"No, we need to keep moving." I replied, and finished restoring cuteness and order to one twin tail. A small victory, but a meaningful one nonetheless. Now for the other one…

"I'm worried about you coming back now, though." She told me. "I think you should stay with me until we know it's safe. If you don't want that, maybe you could hire some mercenaries to go with you to make sure it's safe. My mothers have money for this kind of thing."

While working with her soft, silky black hair, I thought about it. "Hmm, I think everyone would understand if I stayed for a while if the trip back is dangerous. Some time to meet your parents could be nice too. I'm interested in seeing what they're like. You can't keep me forever though." I ended that last part with a chuckle.

"Yeah, but you know how I'd like to…" She sighed, a little dejectedly.

"Aww, you're going to make me feel sad." I teased her a bit. I could tell she was going red without looking at her face. "And… there! Fixed your hair."

I stepped back to her side as she patted her head. She was indeed blushing slightly, but smiled and said, "Wow, feels like you did a really good job. Thanks!"

"No thanks needed! Playing with your hair is a lot of fun." I said without thinking.

"I always thought it was a pain." She chuckled at what I said.

Before I could reply, I saw something coming towards us from ahead. It wasn't a troll, thankfully, but instead a person dressed in bear fur, bits of leather armor, with a wolf jaw on _her_ head. They were mounted atop a saddled gray wolf nearly the size of a horse. I was nervous, and considered asking Azusa for my sword. The stranger had an axe and sword on either side of her hip, and a round wooden shield on her back. Her hair beneath the wolf jaw was long and brown, flowing in the harsh wind. Her midriff and upper torso were exposed, revealing pale muscles marked with countless battle scars. Leather armor covered her forearms, breasts, and most of her legs while bear skin and fur trimmed most of it.

"Thank the gods you two are still standing after that earthquake." She spoke in our language, but was clear it wasn't her native tongue. "You're brave to travel. The whole world is going crazy it seems. Earthquakes, rivers overflowing, floods, tidal waves, and now the very dead walk Midgard again."

"Yeah, we know all about that last part." I grumbled. "Forgive my rudeness. I'm Kotobuki Tsumugi, and this my dear friend Nakano Azusa. We're travelling north from Sakuragyfli to Nekonotochi."

"I'm Suden Uni, the militia chief of Tartungar's Grave. A raven told me two travelers were braving the mountains, so I came to escort you."

"Why would you risk yourself to help us?" Azusa asked. "We're strangers."

"I watch over these mountains, Nakano." She replied. "Avalanches, undead, those raiders, I keep people safe from it all. It's my job. Speaking of raiders, we need to move quickly before they catch wind of us. They've been plaguing travelers for months now, and even targeting our village in the night with hit and run tactics. It's only a matter of time before they charge in full force. I hope my men and I are ready for that day. Now climb on my fluffy friend here, Pedon Loitsu."

The wolf kneeled down, and there was just enough room for the two of us to hop on the back of… I tilted my head and saw it was a girl wolf… her. Azusa and I climbed on, and I sat between the two of them with Suden ahead of me.

"Arms around my waist." Suden ordered, and I gladly wrapped my bare forearms across her muscular bare midriff. Azusa's arms wrapped around my tummy as well, and I suddenly felt like everything was right in the world. Sandwiched between a cute twin tailed girl and a strong, sexy warrior girl. What else could I possibly want besides an Appletini with a lime wedge. Pedon Loitsu turned around, and began trotting back the way her and Suden had come. She moved about the same speed of a horse, but was a little gentler.

"Are you a warrior?" Our 'rescuer' asked me. Presumably me.

"A newbie one." I answered. "Thank you for your timely rescue. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep moving through this snow. Your furry friend doesn't seem to have any trouble at all."

"Of course not, she was raised in the snow." Suden leaned forward and patted the beast's head. "I'll accept no thanks; I was just doing my job. You name sounds familiar though. You wouldn't be the one who slew Shiverclaw, would you?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Huhm didn't think I'd be right." She replied with some degree of surprise. "I can safely say I'm pleased to meet you then. That bitch lizard with wings hunted our cattle for years. She ain't like her mate, Bitterwhatever, he just sleeps all day with his gold. That and that demon vulture-man who got snuffed by some warrior being gone has been great. No more having our wolves and cretchers being snatched away."

I remembered hearing about 'cretchers' before. They were a type of small lizard with prehensile tails and small wings under their arms for gliding. People raised them and used them for meat and scales in these mountainous areas. They were about the size of a dog, apparently, and I had tasted their meat once. As if part of some joke of the cosmos, it tasted like chicken. Then again, so did alligator and I assumed cretchers bore some sort of resemblance to them. The wolves she mentioned were the same animal I was riding atop of right then. The bred quickly, made for spectacular war hounds, their meat and fur were useful, and their milk was also good to drink. I had tried their milk before, and it reminded me of reindeer cheese.

"Mugi was the one who killed that demon." Azusa commented from behind me.

I sighed, and thought, _Ohh boy, here we go…_

"Was she now?" Suden didn't seem convinced, at all. "Well, you have my thanks… again. Now I feel all honored to be givin' you a ride out of this frozen waste. You said you were from Sakuragyfli right? I heard what happened to Lady Akiyama, nasty bit of business there. I saw her before, and under the gods I swear she was the prettiest little lass I've ever seen; for an Aibureidon. Don't let my looks fool you, I'm Varangian through and through, but I like living out here in these mountains. No politics, no armies, no wars, and nothing stopping me from making those damned raiders taste my axe and sword, ha ha! Those bastards need to get off their asses and just attack in full force already! Their bodies would keep our wolves fed for months, and I know Pedon here is sure hungry from them. So you're a warrior and all, where's your weapon? Something tells me you weren't punching dragons to death."

"Azusa-chan has my sword. It's hidden away." I told her.

"Oh, through magic?"

"That's right."

Suden laughed, "Never cared for magic myself. Only good thing about mages is how they don't put a layer of steel between themselves and my sword. I can swing faster than their fingers can make lightning and fire. Under the gods I swear to you it's the truth!"

"I don't doubt you." I chuckled at her enthusiasm.

"You seem like a lass with a good head on her shoulders? Tell me, girl, how old are you?" She asked me.

"Eighteen, Suden-sa-"

"Cut that honorific crap around me. Yeah, I'm speaking Aibureidon, but that doesn't mean I care for that jazz." The warrior woman cut me off.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize at me either!" She snapped, but her mood remained pretty jovial. "Under the gods, you're confusing the stars out of me, girl. I don't think you're lying about your kills, but it doesn't match your character at all! You're reminding me of a lord's servant girl, and I can tell you're better than that. Lighten up, relax, and know what, when we get back to town, I'll treat you to some ale down at the _Kultanainen_; our tavern. On the house!"

"Why would you do that for me?" I found myself asking, feeling quite shy. "We just met."

She shrugged. "You killed Shiverclaw, I am _obliged_ to buy you a drink. Seriously, lighten up and enjoy free drinks! It'll be dark soon, and I assume you're staying the night in town?"

"We are, aren't we?" I turned my head towards Azusa.

"That's what I planned." Azusa confirmed. She sounded strangely downcast, and I couldn't understand why.

"Good then, good!" Suden spurred our mount on just a little faster. I had to hold onto her just a little tighter, feeling her girl abs beneath my fingers. She was combining the toughness of a man into the softness of a woman in the sexiest way possible. I cursed myself for feeling this attraction towards her, but it was impossible to ignore my feelings. I decided I shouldn't feel bad for just thinking she was good looking, because that was harmless. I wasn't dishonoring Mio's memory in anyway by just thinking this. The furs she wore, and the weapons at her side just made her look so… so awesome! I decided that I was going to get myself my own wolf jaw to wear on my head. My current white tunic probably looked quite dull and boring in comparison.

Our conversation didn't go on much further was we spent the next several hours riding through the dim light. Forest turned to steep, mountain passes whose snow Pedon Loitsu effortlessly trampled through. Steep, rocky slopes surrounded us, with more paths and roads carved into them like the ones we had passed hours ago on foot. This path we took north was one of many through these mountains, and I wondered if anyone knew them all. They were like a maze.

We passed the remnants of large bonfires more than once, and to my horror, I saw charged skeletons mixed in the burnt wood and piles of ashes. Suden told me that they were the remains of those mountain raiders slain under her men's weapons. I tried to tell myself that these were the same kind of people who accosted Mio and me when I first came here, and that it was better this way. How many innocent people's lives would they take or ruin if they weren't forcefully put down this way? While I didn't like how all fire was fought with fire, I knew these bandits and thugs weren't going to go away if asked politely. I had to wonder though, how much a defending side could keep just pushing these raiders back before they had to mount a counterattack to get rid of them for good. People in the Sakuragyfli militia talked about mounting counterattacks against Mugitsu and it made me wonder, if the defending party struck back, wouldn't that make them the attacker in this situation. Suden made the raiders around this part seem like a really big problem for Tartungar's Grave. They were in the wrong, and she was in the right for killing any one that troubled her town. Suppose she mounted an offensive back, wiped them out to the last man and took all their resources and got rid of their threat for good, would she still be in the right? Eye for an eye, I supposed, and there wasn't enough players here to make the whole world blind. Morality of war was a strange thing, and I wasn't sure what to think about it.

I decided not to think about it, and to lighten up and enjoy free drinks.

Tartungar's grave was interesting sight to behold. It was built in a steep, narrow valley that looked to be the only way through this section of the mountains. The buildings were built all up the side of the valley, and on the floor of it. It was monochromatic, with dark grays and browns along white snow being the only colors. Torches lit all over the place provided illumination under the dark, pitch-black, starless sky. We passed through a wooden palisade lined with guard towers, each with archers on lookout. Militia men waved at Suden, and cheered for her safe returned.

The buildings all up the side of the valley seemed to be built atop one another, with all sorts of ladders and balconies leading between them. There were even rope bridges spanning from one side to the other over the floor of the valley and above the village.

As Suden lead to her wolf through the torch lit dark to wherever her home was, I saw others of its kind about. They roamed freely like pet dogs, except eight times larger. I felt intimidated by them, but at the same time they were kind of cute, like giant fluffy puppies that could bite my head off if they wanted to. I wondered what I would have to do to get one of my own.

"Here, you two can stay at my place." Suden told us as we rode through the quiet nighttime village. "There's three empty beds since the wars in Varyag took my sons, so you're welcome to take them. Don't go giving me sympathy about those three boys either! They're in Valhalla right now and they made me proud."

"I'm sure they were great men." I commented, politely. I wonder just how old Suden was if she had three sons old enough to fight in wars or battles.

"Bah, they gave me nothing but trouble!" She scoffed. "Thanks though, that's sweet of you."

From behind us, Azusa finally said something. "Is it alright if I just go straight to sleep? I don't really want to go drinking with you two."

"Oh, that's fine." Suden replied right away. "You sound tired too, lass. I'd imagine the journey, earthquake, and those trolls must have been tough on someone your size."

"I don't think I'll do that much drinking." I told them. "I just want to spend some time with my new friend, since we may not see each other again after tomorrow."

"Yeah, you two have fun with each other…" Azusa sighed, sounding… _jealous_. Was that it? Was she jealous that I had made friends with this older, beautiful woman? I know she was extremely jealous of Mio, but she had been my girlfriend, so what was kind of justified. Suden and I were just friends who had recently met. I didn't think she had any reason to be jealous at all.

She didn't have any reason to be jealous _yet_. I didn't know what the night would have in store for me, or what I could potentially end up doing while drunk. Last time I had drank; I ended up in Eila's clothes while in a tree. I _really_ hoped I didn't do anything I would regret like making love to a sexy cougar while my true love was dead.

I would be vigilant and just drink enough to indulge her offer. Nothing could go wrong.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Standard Author's Notes**_**: **_No excuse for how long this took to put out, and how little it offered, so I'm sorry for that. Also sorry for how gloomy and angsty the story has gotten too. Sadly, things only get worse for Mugi before they get better. Criticisms and the like are always welcomed. I'd rather hear that some something about this story is awful first hand. _

_The one good thing about shitty things happening to Mugi, is that she has more chances at bad ass heroics. Trust me, her feats of badassery will be quite incredible as this goes on._


	23. Unweaving Fates

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER 23**

**UNWEAVING FATES**

"_I'm gonna give my very end to you  
>cause you will be my murderer,<br>you'll be my killer  
>It's like a final dance for me and you<br>Where if you'll get some pleasure,  
>well, I will get it too..."<em>

-_Ladykiller_ by _The Foreshadowing_

We arrived in Tartungar's Grave alongside our new companion, and despite what I had decided earlier, I did not go out drinking with her. It felt like I was setting myself up for disaster with the way things were around these lands. Women were a cheap commodity for both men and other women out seeking some fun. I wanted absolutely no part of that and retired to Suden's guest bedroom in her quaint home. I felt like I was really dodging a bullet here, since every other time I wound up drunk, I acted stupid or blacked out entirely. I felt a little bad for declining Suden's hospitality, but actually thinking on it, it was bad idea.

The room was small and dusty, and the bed that wasn't as comfortable as my petty living condition at the inn in Sakuragyfli. It was a collection of boards with hay and furs over it, which was somehow less comfortable than just sleeping on the floor. Maybe my spoiled life as what amounted to a Japanese princess had left me a little entitled when it came to where I slept, but I was beginning to hate sleeping like this. It made me miss Mio's soft, nice bed, along with her soft, nice body.

Suden's home was typical of that time and place. A comfortable lodging that was dark, quiet, and warm and consisted of four rooms. The parlor which doubled as a kitchen, her room, a pantry, and the guest room we were staying in. It made me miss the bright, open wide and spacious rooms of my home in Japan.

Azusa was snuggled up against me as she slept, using my arm as a pillow and resting her head against my shoulder. We had been through a lot that day with an avalanche and troll zombies. Exhausted and shaken up, I didn't object to her attachment to me. She looked cute while she slept, and I could only wonder what she was dreaming about since her dreams had put such a peaceful expression on her face. I wondered if Mio was dreaming too.

When I finally fell asleep, I dreamed as well. I dreamed of a blonde, Scandinavian looking Japanese girl perusing a bakery. She was looking over cakes and agonizing over what to buy. She knew what each of her friends liked, and what their individual tastes where. Finding the perfect cake for their afterschool tea time was an agonizing, unsung ritual she performed about three times a week but not once did she ever feel the bite of tedium as she performed it. The happy expressions of her friends at their treat made her heart flutter and left her feeling loved and appreciated. She was by all means a happy girl, whose only problems were those of the first world kind.

Then I dreamed of another girl. A Valkyrie looking Aibureidon girl in a blue kimono decorated in a white floral pattern. The beautiful kimono is splattered with her own blood from an evil witch's spell. Rain is pouring down on her, masking her tears and grief as she picks up the body of her dead love from the mud. She sees the mud in that raven colored hair, and it pains her to see beauty besmirched in such a way. Her blade lays in the mud as well, so elegant and pretty, but ultimate useless in her weak and incompetent hands. The girl feels useless, and she feels like she is in a world that she doesn't have any place in. Her fear of death is slowly disappearing, and that frightens her. She's afraid of this part of her that is so willing to charge headlong into the unknown, just to bring closure to her struggle.

I barely got any sleep that night. I had eaten little and my stomach was rumbling so much I wondered if it woke my sleeping bedmate at all. I was miserable then, hungry, tired, and hurt with loss. I couldn't help but think about Mio again, and everything about her. I thought about her laughing at my dumb jokes, and how sweet the sound of that laugh was. I thought about that strange smell her breath had from being a mage, and the smells of her perfume. I thought about her nervous quirks, how she would stumble and try to correct herself if she said something embarrassing. I thought about how she could be coaxed into playful banter with Ritsu. I thought about how she would sing to the ravens when she thought nobody but me was watching. I thought about how we would talk for hours about our childhoods and our lives before we met each other. I thought about how she helped me relieve months of sexual tension and left me with my head spinning and body exhausted.

I sat up and buried my hands in my head. Next to me, Azusa rolled over and mumbled something in her sleep. Quietly, I sighed.

_Why did you have to die, Mio? Why I have to fall in love with you just for this to happen. I never even got to explore the most exciting part of you either. When I get you back –which I will do- we're going on a honeymoon to whatever tropical beaches this world has and I'm going to have you all to myself. Yeah, that's how it's going to be. The heroine gets the prize in the end._

Suddenly, I felt this irresistible urge to go for a walk out in the night air. I climbed out of bed, careful not to wake Azusa, and put on my black tights and boots. For safety's sake, I grabbed Talvimiekka and slung the blade over my shoulder so the flat was resting against me. The icy surface stung, but I was a big girl who had her lungs burned with caustic gas. I could handle a little cold.

As I silently left Suden's home and out into the chilly village streets, I wondered if it was worth trying to buy a sheath for my dear sword. That was something that would have to wait since I had absolutely no money and had no idea how to make any sufficient amount. I knew mercenaries were in high demand, and that job paid pretty well, but I really doubted I could make it as a sellsword. If push came to shove, I supposed I could sit at a street corner with a sign that said, "Will kill zombies for money!"

The streets of this village were slippery with ice and mud, and my boots kept trying to slide out from under me. I had the strangest urge to take a walk through the forest north of the pass the village was built into. I knew it was dangerous, even with my sword with me, but I couldn't say no to this urge. Something told me this wasn't natural. The northern border of Tartungar's Grave was a palisade of sharpened logs that formed a wall to keep intruders out. There was a single exit, which I planned to take for my impromptu stroll through the woods at night. I wasn't exactly terrified to confront whatever was persuading me to head there, but I wasn't eager either. I was more curious than anything else.

Drunken men and the women at their sides made lewd remarks towards me as I passed them. They reeked of whiskey even several meters away, and I did my best to just ignore them. The enchanted sword I carried openly dissuaded anyone from trying to be too friendly with me.

The militiamen and guards gave me confused looks as I left underdressed for the cold out into the wilderness. I assured them I would be fine, and they didn't have to worry about me. Their concern for some random traveler was a little touching though, and showed me that at least some people in this world had compassion. When I told the guardsmen I would be back before dawn, they offered me snowshoes and skis to deal with the high snow. I declined, being I had no idea how to use them.

So, off I went into the freezing wilderness, stomping through snow that went past my knees and quickly exhausted me. I still had no idea where I was going, or what I was even doing out here. All I knew is that I _needed_ to walk through the woods, and I couldn't resist that. It felt familiar somehow, like the very same thing had happened on a lesser scale before.

The forest wasn't as deep with snow, but was still in a mountainous region. This meant I was struggling to keep even footing on the steep and treacherous ground. I climbed uphill in the dark, tearing my tights in multiple places which made me look quite trampy. I was covered with dirt as well when I finally reached the top of this forested hill. I felt some sort of satisfaction for climbing his obstacle, and enjoyed my apparent victory as I looked down at Tartungar's Grave from my hill.

"Tsumugi." A voice said from behind me. It nearly made me jump out of my skin. I spun around in surprise, and scrambled to raise my sword. It was a good thing I did that, for the one behind me was none other than the one who killed my Mio. Suddenly this all made sense. She had lured me up past Sakuragyfli with a spell before; one that she told me would kill me if I didn't oblige its call.

I wasn't sure how to react to her being there. Part of me wanted to scream and run her through with my sword, and another part of me wanted to run away as fast as I could. No part of me was eager to see her though.

"What do you want with me?" I asked venom in my voice. I wasn't even aware I was capable of sounding so nasty. With my damaged throat, I sounded like an entirely different person.

"Simple." She answered, rather indifferently, and dropped to one knee. She lowered her head and said, "I'll give you what you no doubt long for."

"Give me Mio back? Thanks to you that's not really possible. Any other friends you want to kill while you're at it?"

_Did I really just say that? Mugi, what's wrong with you? That was a horrible thing to say!_

Mugitsu raised her blue eyes at me and her expression remained neutral. "I see that look in your eyes and the way your hold your sword. You want to bring down that winter blade on my neck and kill me. Fine, do it, this is your chance. I'll give you your revenge!"

I lowered my sword and just stared down at her. I didn't know what to make of this. After just over two weeks I finally get my chance to confront her and this was it? This random, sudden encounter? I had harbored many fantasies of revenge, but harbored more fantasies of having Mio back. Was this some sort of ploy? I didn't understand her angle, and kept my sword lowered. I hated her, that much was certain, but I was no killer (giants, trolls, and undead notwithstanding. I'd kill every last one of them again if I had to). I looked down at her with narrowed and confused eyes, still trying to make sense of her.

"I'm not going to kill you." I said, and dropped Talvimiekka with a crunch in the snow. "I don't want revenge either, I want Mio back."

Mugitsu looked up at me, her expression seeming annoyed now instead of neutral. "I don't believe you. You're too emotional not to be angry. I can't bring that girl back, and I certainly can never spend a happy moment with you again, so let's give closure to all of this. If you don't kill me now, Ragnarok will finish the job soon enough anyhow. This feels more honorable than death in fire."

"Are you kidding me?" I blurted out, and tugged my hair in frustration at her. "You lured me out here to start saying sad things about yourself? I thought you were going to kill me or, or charm me, or just have your way with me since I can't stop your magic. This is somehow worse than those things. I don't want you to grovel in front of me; I want you to give me Mio back!"

She stood up and brushed snow off her knees, still looking annoyed. "I can't do that, so I guess you're out of luck."

"Find a way!" I demanded. "Find a way or never speak to me again. I don't want to see you whining."

_Am I even in control of what I'm saying anymore? I don't even feel like myself. I'm… becoming frightened of myself. _

Mugitsu raised an eyebrow at me. "I guess killing her gave you a backbone. What will you do now that's she's gone? I just have to ask."

"Find a way to save her." I answered immediately.

"There is no saving, she's gone, Tsumugi."

"Not without me trying first, she isn't. Don't tell me it's impossible either. Me being in Midgard is supposed to be impossible if what Lusefarian said is right. I'll find some way to get her back, even if it takes me fifty years and I die along the way. She's the only thing in this world I shouldn't even be in that makes me happy."

That wasn't fair to my other friends, but despite how much I cherished them, I didn't see a lifetime of happiness with them. Despite being from two different worlds, Mio and I just connected in a way that no other bond between my friends and I could rival. Yes, Azusa loved me and yes I felt some sort of emotional connection with her but… it just wasn't the same. She was more of a little sister to me than a life partner.

Mugitsu lowered her head and turned around like she was unable to face me. "After our night in Lutvjarg, and the night that followed it together under the starts… I thought I could be that thing, the one that makes you happy."

"I wish I could believe that, Mugitsu." I muttered, causing her to flinch at my words. "Azusa-chan was jealous of Mio as well. I know the two of us being together broke her heart, but the difference between her and you is that Azusa-chan cared enough about me not to go and _kill_ anyone."

"My mistake." She shrugged, still facing away from me. "I was so eager to kindle a bond with this person who embodied everything that was good about Mahonoken Tsumugi before those damned Valkyries turned her into something disgusting. You are her reincarnation in my eyes. Your kindness and determination, along with your looks all mirror hers. I loved my older sister, I looked up to her, and she was my everything. You know the story, how my emotions turned to jealousy and then to spite and I finally struck her down and killed her."

_So her surname IS Mahonoken. It wasn't just a rouse in Lutvjarg._

"So you saw me as your second chance then?" I concluded.

"Something like that, but at the same time I saw you as more. I was the one that was the older sister this time… Or, at least that's what I wanted. I wanted _you_ to look at me the same way I looked at my sister. I wanted to take you into my loving embrace and show you the beautiful shores of my homeland; the breathtaking forests of the elves; the vast deserts of Lesfain. I wanted to show you, this outsider, all the wonder and beauty in Midgard. I wanted to be this divine figure, and I wanted us to live a life of immortality like the gods themselves do in Asgaard…"

I kept silent, and found myself strangely intrigued with her tale. It was somehow beautiful, but I wondered what turned that beauty so ugly. Had she found me before Mio, would her fantasy have become reality? Would I have accepted this offer long ago? I was much more naïve and eager for attachment, so maybe I would have.

"…None of this happened because I'm not as idealistic in practice as I am in theory." Mugitsu continued. "Seclusion for decades at a time poisons your mind, Tsumugi. You become so inept at dealing with people, that you forget how to act around them. We immortals, we revert back to children in a way. I get frustrated and enraged when I don't get my way. I want everything to go how I want it to, with little regard to how other people feel. And because of that, I lashed out and killed the woman you loved without understanding the consequences of my actions. Now… look at where we are. I'm alone again until Ragnarok ends all this, and you're lost and miserable with a goal you have no idea how to accomplish. I'm sorry Tsumugi. I regret killing Akiyama Mio not just for my sake, but for yours as well."

She turned around to face me again, and I reacted entirely on impulse. She was right about what she said earlier, I was too emotional not to get angry. Something about her speech resonated with me and sent me into a fit of rage. Why? Because she was telling me about how much better things _could_ have been. Instead though, Mio was dead and everyone was unhappy because of her.

So, when she turned around I punched her in the face as hard as I could. She yelped in surprise and was knocked back into the snow. I stood there, trembling with my fist still outstretched while Mugitsu sat in the snow with blood trickling down from her split lip.

"Don't tell me you're sorry!" I shouted at her. "You can tell me you still want me, and how fantastic we would have been together, but do _not_ say you regret this! I don't want to hear how Mio's death was pointless!"

Mugitsu smiled and wiped the blood from her lip with her arm. "So what do you want to hear? That killing her was part of my master plan? Tsumugi, none of my plans involve wooing you, or ever did. Everything between us was me acting on impulse and emotions."

"What are your plans then? You must have something you're trying to work for. All this waging war with giants and undead, what are you trying to do? Why not just kill Lord Akiyama and crown yourself Lady Mugitsu of Sakuragyfli? Why are you dragging this out so much?"

"Finally you're wising up and asking the big questions. To put it simply, I have seen the fate the Norns have woven, and I understand my part in it. Me seeing my part was woven in as well, everything has been predefined."

"What are you talking about?" I snapped at her, now becoming frustrated at her lack of a straight answer.

She stood up and brushed snow off of her and wiped more blood away. "I wish someone could have explained more of this world cosmology to you, Tsumugi. It's simple, Norns who rule the destiny of men and gods. Those who choose the slain are Norns, they weave the destiny of those in Midgard to choose who dies in battle and become Einherjar."

Something then clicked in my head, "That means-"

"Yes." Mugitsu nodded. "I, once a Valkyrie, am part of the Norns. The death of my sister was caused by a disagreement of how fate should be handled and changed. I sought to challenge the fates decided before me, the fate that is to be Ragnarok. Everything I do now is to challenge that, but it seems like no matter what, you cannot change what has been decided. I've been trying for centuries to steer this coming catastrophe off course, but it seems it cannot be stopped."

"Are… you trying to tell me there is no such thing as free will? That everything we do is decided by some… people I've just now heard of?" I stepped back and felt my head reeling at this revelation. This felt like something I should have been told weeks ago by someone or anyone. How could this fact have been neglected?

"Not quite." She shook her head, which gave me some relief. "The destiny of mankind cannot be written word for word. You, for example, are a rogue factor. You're not even supposed to _be_ in this world, so you cannot have been foreseen."

"What does any of this have to do with you harassing Sakuragyfli though? Are these Norns making you play your part like an actor in a play? Everything you just told me about these beings seems to be riddled with holes. How can fate be predetermined if we have free will?"

"One question at a time, Tsumugi." Mugitsu cut me off. "Understanding the way these things work requires the mind of a deity or mage. I already told you, the reason I'm harming these people isn't just to cause trouble, but to stop-"

Before she could finish what she was saying, she miraculously turned into a puppy before my very eyes. I blinked, and all of a sudden there she was, a small little husky puppy sitting there in the snow. I felt like I should have been surprised, astounded, or taken aback. Instead, I simply felt exhausted and annoyed. This world around me was a magical one, so someone turning into a cute little animal before my eyes in the middle of crucial exposition about their motives just didn't really bother me.

I sighed, and turned around to pick up my sword out of the snow. My theory was that Mugitsu had used magic to turn herself into some unassuming creature to avoid telling me the full story. It was a bit strange that she would hold out information, since that was something she had never done before.

Out of the woods around me, I heard a suave male voice say, "Her bark has always been worse than her bite."

"Who said that?" I cautiously looked around with my sword firmly in my hands.

From between the trees a man entered my little clearing on that hill. He didn't look like he was from that world, but instead closer to mine. Somewhere in his thirties, he had a lightly trimmed beard and mustache, black like his neatly cut hair and sunglasses. He looked like a business man, dressed in a tuxedo, and had a cigar with him.

I narrowed my eyes in disbelief and confusion, and let go of Talvimiekka with my left hand, and held it loosely with my right. First Mugitsu had turned into a puppy, which was yipping at me, and now a man in a suit and tie had appeared. I felt like I needed a nap.

"Who-" I went to say before he cut me off.

"Loki, resident shape shifter and god, pleased to meet you." He spoke in a fast and charismatic voice. I blinked, and he appeared right in front of me, startling me quite badly. He shook my hand and continued, "Pleased to meet you Tsumugi, I just happened to be in this neck of the woods and stopped by to visit. Glad to see your dear old sis is doing well. Sometimes she gets a little… difficult, when we gods are around, so I took the liberty of turning into a cute little animal. You can hold her if you like."

"N-No thanks…" I nervously took a step back away from him and Mugitsu. "Y-You're a god? Like the gods everyone talks about? Like Odin, Thor, Fre-"

"No, no, no, no, not like one of _those_ gods." Loki cut me off again, and shook his head. "See, you're thinking of the gods in Asgaard, but me, I don't roll with that crowd. Bunch of stuck up, pompous fruits so bloated with mead they can't walk straight. Oh no, I fly solo baby. Also, unlike them, I like to visit Midgard and lend a helping hand to little girls who happen to get lost and end up in our world."

"Wait you want to help me?" I suddenly perked up, although Mugitsu was barking a lot more frantically. Ritsu had said nothing short of a god could help me save Mio, and here was a god lining up to help me! I thought people had said Loki wasn't the greatest fellow, but I could overlook that if he was going to help me. Besides, I had hung out with plenty of murderous sociopaths.

Loki nodded again, and suddenly his appearance changed before my very eyes. Gone was his suave and charming suit, replaced with a blonde woman who was taller and more slender than I was. Her face was soft and caring, her figure fuller than mine, but she looked quite a lot of like me.

"M-Mother!" I gasped, feeling my heart explode with a thousand emotions at seeing her image again. I took a deep breath and then turned to look away, "No, you're not my mother. You're still Loki, aren't you?"

"Does it matter what I am if I'm trying to help you?" I heard my mother's soft voice say. I flinched at it, and how it brought up too much nostalgia, and the longing to go home. I felt her arms wrap around me from behind, and I could feel her warmth and smell her shampoo. It was the same as it was before. I had trouble catching my breath; this illusion put on by a god was too real. In my ear, her voice whispered, "Tsumugi, I want to see you happy. Mio-chan isn't gone forever, and you can save her if you work hard and journey far. You're strong, and I believe you could do the impossible by saving her."

I felt tears burn in my eyes at my conflicting emotions. I _knew_ this was Loki, but at the same time I wanted to believe it really was my mother saying these things I so desperately wanted to hear. I wanted to believe it was her loving touch that I've been longing for so long. I fell to my knees in the snow, and felt her hands resting strongly on my shoulders.

"Don't cry, Tsumugi, you're too strong to cry." She cooed, her voice was like music to my ears. "Azusa-chan is a smart girl, and her parents know a lot of things. Ask them about the dead god, Ilmatar, and the _sampo_ he left me behind. It is perhaps the greatest artifact ever created, said to be able to alter reality for a person once and only once. You could find it, and change the world to have Mio alive again, or even go back home… your true home. It lies in the world of _Nifelheim_, far away and most difficult to reach. If you can somehow make it there, this all could be undone."

"How could something so amazing just be lying around?" I managed to ask despite my bewildered state.

"Simple, Tsumugi… it's something few are aware of. Most people believe it's just a myth, but it's real and you just have to find it. Ask Azusa-chan about it. I know she knows the legends, and they are a good starting place."

"T-That's it?" Relief surged through me. I had a goal now; a sense of direction. In a way, I was also thankful that Loki took this form, because it was nice to see my mother again. I wished I could see my father as well somehow, along with Sumire back home. Feeling more confident, I stood up from the snow and spared Mugitsu the puppy a glare.

"That's it." My mother's voice confirmed. "So simple, but it will surely be a daunting task. You can do it though, with a little help from your friends."

"Why are you helping me though?" I felt like I had to ask. "Why not take the thing for yourself? Who am I to you?"

I heard my mother inhale, like Loki was thinking for a moment. Sh- _he_, was silent for a moment before answering me, "You and I are much alike, Tsumugi. We're neutral players in this cosmic game of war. You befriended Mugitsu against everyone else's wishes. Sometimes I help the gods, sometimes I work against them, but above all else I favor none above the other. Right now, I feel like helping a wayward soul by offering a direction for her to follow. Why don't I just take the sampo for myself? Simple, it resides in a holy ground that we gods cannot trespass on. You are a simple mortal, able to trek there and take it. I would not trust this with any other soul, but I trust you. You are free from greed, malice, anger, and jealousy; attributes that would change the world for the worse."

"Thank you." I said simply, and turned around. I met the eyes of my mother, blue like mine, and stood there thinking of what to say next. A lot had happened in this short time up on this hill, and it made me think of how strange fate seemed to work. All of this information dumped on me at once. It was a lot to process all at once.

I then asked Loki, "Is there anything you want in return? Something that someone like me could do to repay you?"

I was actually frightened of what a god would want. I knew in certain mythologies, deities sent mortals off on all sorts of petty and ridiculously long quests.

"Simple. Do not listen to anything Mugitsu tells you, or instructs you to do. A lot of things have been carefully constructed so that certain events can occur, and she is trying to undo very important aspects of them. She would make you a pawn to help further her own goals, whatever they are. Go and rest though, you'll need your strength for the journey ahead."

Near us, Mugitsu the Puppy barked frantically.

I glanced at the small animal, and then nodded to Loki. "Alright, you don't need to tell me twice. Thank you once again. You've been incredibly helpful, more than words can express."

"Don't mention it, Tsumugi." Before my eyes, Loki returned to his normal, suave form. He turned around and looked up towards the sky. "Now that our business is taken care of, I think I'll go pay my sons a visit. If you ever are near the river _Ván_, be sure to pay my son Fenrir a visit. Just say that you're a friend of mine or he may get… irritable."

"Alright, I'll do that." I replied, not actually expecting to do just that. The name 'Fenrir' sounded familiar, like I had heard it off hand before. I knew what the world meant though. My magical enchantment imparted the knowledge that the name meant 'fen-dweller'. I certainly hoped my travels never took me to any swampy places where that name would be relevant.

The two of us said our goodbyes, and I left with my sword in hand. Mugitsu could not really move in the snow in her new form, and I left her barking self behind without a second though. As I walked back, I entertained thoughts of using this sampo wish all her magic away. As cruel as that sounded, I believed It would be for her own good.

Above all else, I wanted to sleep to think on everything I had just learned that night.

**A LOVELY ASCENSION**

No dreams bred in my restful sleep, and I was awoken with the feeling of the whole room vibrating slightly. I heard the faint sounds through the stone walls of people shouting outside. There was a single window in the room, a circular once high one the wall. From it, I saw dim light, meaning it was probably still very early in the morning. I sat up, blinked a few times and tried to make sense of what was going on. My head was pounding like Ritsu was playing consecutive quarter notes with her bass pedal against it from the inside.

"Wha… what's going on?" I drowsily asked my bedmate.

"Just another earthquake, go back to sleep." Azusa muttered, and rolled over, facing away from me.

"Okay…" I sighed and lied back down close to her.

She pushed herself towards me, and closed the tiny distance between us. In her same sleepy voice, she said, "You're so soft… Mugi."

"This isn't a dream Azusa-chan, you actually said that." I informed her. "Good morning though."

"It's not morning yet." She yawned, and then realized what she had said. She scooted a few inches away from me and tiredly said, "Just give me a few more hours."

"Okay." I sighed a second time, and tried to drift back to sleep myself.

While I was relaxed and content lying there, I couldn't seem to fall out of consciousness. I stared up at the ceiling, at the thick boards above, and wondered what this new development between me, Loki, and Mugitsu really meant. I wasn't exactly eager to tell Azusa about what I learned. It would sound crazy, but she was probably the only one who could help me figure out where to go first.

Outside, I heard more people yelling, but their voices were muffled by the walls of Suden's sturdy home. I wondered if she was still asleep right now, up in her bed. I considered putting on my tunic and going to check, but I didn't want to wake up sleeping Azusa. Among the outside noises, I heard what sounded like clanging. My mind instantly associated that sound with swords. Now I was a little worried, and wondered if this was just the militia of Tartungar's Grave doing drills, or something bad.

Now I could hear footsteps on the same floor as us. I heard Suden's voice as she talked with a few people unknown to me. I couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but I could tell this wasn't a friendly chat. Their voices were quick, and sounded excited, scared, or worried. I couldn't tell which, but I definitely knew something was going on. I sat and winced at my still aching head. Azusa stirred a bit beside me, and I knew I was going to hate myself for waking her up. She just looked so cute and peaceful lying there, breathing quietly through her mouth. I leaned over her and shook her gently.

"Azusa-chan." I whispered in her ear. "Wake up, something's happening."

"Not yet, give me a few more…" She muttered and rolled over away from me. I wondered how she could be so tired when I had been the one up all night.

"I guess you can have five more minutes." I gave in, and got up out of bed. I gathered up a change of clothes from her magical carrying space and changed while she slept. This time my tunic was white, and ended just above my knees, so I didn't need to wear tights. I considered making sure Talvimiekka was close by, but the lack of scabbard for this weapon made lugging it around such a pain. Fully dressed, I stepped out the room and made my way to parlor of our host's home. My guess was correct; this is where I had heard the commotion from.

The parlor was a decent sized room consisting of several wooden chairs around a currently roaring fireplace. Suden was there, dressed in similar garb as the day before, weapons and all. Around her were three men in suits of mail with swords, shields, axes, and longbows on their backs. Their armor was also trimmed with gray and brown furs. Two had blonde hair, but one was much bigger than the other, and the last had deep brown hair.

"Who's this?" The small blonde warrior asked.

"My guest, a dragon and demon slayer from Sakuragyfli." She replied right away and walked up towards me. She gave me a quick kiss on the forehead and said, "Good morning, Mugi. I hope you slept well and are ready."

"R-Ready? Ready for what?" I was blushing furiously from her kiss. It was just part of local tradition, I knew that and had seen other people do this, but I still found it strange.

"Raiders." The taller blonde there answered. "They're moving through the woods north of here as we speak."

_The woods I had happened to be in last night…_

"Aye, and our woodland scouts are surely all dead by now." The brown haired warrior added. "The hounds are going crazy too. That only happens when the enemy has wolves of their own."

_I wish I hadn't heard that. I don't like hearing that people died in the place I was at not too long ago._

"I know, I know." Suden shook her head impatiently. "Mugi, you and your small companion should gear up and leave right away. Get up to the top of the village on the far side and take to the mountains. The trails are pretty simple to follow, but incredibly steep and icy so you'll need to be careful. Those trails are a one way trip though, because nobody without climbing gear is getting through them the other way. That should mean you two would have a straight shot out and _should_ get you pass any raiders. If not, you shouldn't have any trouble with them, miss dragon slayer."

"A-Alright." I gulped. "Thank you Suden, you've been more than helpful. Also, thank you again for letting us-"

"Stop with that." She interrupted me. "You're making it sound like this is our last goodbye. Even if we have to wait until Valhalla to meet again, so be it, but this is not goodbye. Go now, wake your friend and get out of here safely." With that, Suden turned the others and began shouting off orders. "Ludvig, make sure everyone who isn't part of the militia is ready to move south if the raiders somehow break the palisade; better safe than sorry. Olavi, tell the wolf cavalry to suit up and be ready in twenty!"

They conducted their quick plans and I returned to the room Azusa and I had shared.

"Azusa-chan, time to get up." I didn't whisper this time, and was much more firm. Perhaps too much so.

She opened her eyes and sat up, using one hand to hold the quilt up for warmth. She looked at me with some degree of confusion and asked, "Is something wrong, Mugi? You look worried."

"Suden said raiders are coming in from the north." I told her. "We're taking an unorthodox route to safety. Get dressed and let's get going."

"Yeah, right away!" She hopped out of bed and quickly went to getting dressed.

"Ready to go?" I asked as she finished lacing up her boots and tucking them under her black jeans. I wondered where she got those jeans, since I had seen little other denim here in Midgard.

"Yeah, let's get out of here." She nodded.

"Be ready to give me Talvimiekka or even my fire wand at a moment's notice."

"Got it!"

I led the way out, adrenaline quickly surging through me. Tartungar's Grave was separated in two parts. There was a road that led north and south through the center, the same road we had taken the day before to get here. The village was then cut into the east and west sections with the road. We were on the west side of the village, right up against the steep slopes that served as the town's edge. They were too steep and icy to even consider climbing, but the elevated buildings on the east side reached the very top, which was presumably our destination. There was a lot of shouting and people running about. A lot of them were armed, which didn't surprise me. The warriors were merging north, while everyone else seemed to be headed south.

Through the small roads that branched off from the center one, Azusa and I made our way to the main one. Some people rudely shoved past us, and I had to constantly keep checking to see if Azusa was still with me. I considered holding her hand, but decided against it since she wasn't a toddler. We quickly came to the main road, and I stopped to get a feel for just what was going on here. I heard shouting to the north, and a sound that I remembered from the battle near Mount Kval. It was the echoing chorus of bow strings. It sounded like the raiders had made it to the north wall.

Azusa didn't stop with me, and kept running ahead. I had to grab her by the collar and pull her back to prevent her from getting trampled by a half dozen Varangian wolves with mounted archers on their backs.

"You're supposed to look both ways before crossing the road!" I reminded her, a little exasperatedly.

"Sorry, sorry, I wasn't thinking." She cringed at her own mistake.

"Come on, I don't think I could handle you getting killed like that." I told her, and then began to quickly cross the road. She followed, and I decided that if she was going to act like a toddler and not look both ways, I was going to treat her like one. I held her hand as we crossed.

"I'll be more careful." She replied as I essentially dragged her along. I was now searching for some kind of way to get from the ground, up to the top of the steep, cliff-like slopes there. The wood these buildings were made from was incredibly sturdy it looked like. There had been what, two earthquakes now and they hadn't collapsed after being built atop one another? That was kind of impressive. My eyes spotted a set of stairs leading up to a balcony that served almost like a sidewalk for these elevated buildings.

"That's all I'm asking, Azusa-chan." I said, and avoided someone hurrying down those stairs. When they were out of the way, I quickly made my way up to that long balcony. It stood in front of a row of all sorts of shops built right on top of the homes of the owners it looked like. General store, foods, weapons, all sorts of things that we didn't have time to check out. I could either go north or south from here, and decided to head south.

I looked north for a moment, and from where I was standing, I could see archers up on the guard towers of the northern wall firing off arrows in rapid succession. Either they were bad shots, or there were a lot of targets. Neither of those were really good things. I had chosen the right way, because at the end of the balcony was a ladder leading up to the roofs of these homes here. I let Azusa's hand go so we could both climb on up that ladder. I forgot just how much I hated climbing these things. When I crawled up the last rung to the top, I finished my thought.

"Where do we go next?" Azusa asked me.

These roofs seemed to be a dead end. There were buildings around it, but it was like a whole other town built on top of the bottom layer. These balconies were all over the place, along with bridges that served as roads. Getting up to the top would be like going through a maze you couldn't just keep hanging left on. The roof was slippery, and it had begun to snow some more, making things a little worse.

"Hmm…" I hmm'd. "Over there looks like a suitable destination for two fine ladies such as ourselves."

I pointed towards the catwalk of a building right up against the slopes of the cliffs here, near the one we were standing on. It had a long flight of stairs hugging the building it was attached to, leading up to its roof. From there, we would be much closer to the top. The only problem was the catwalk was lower than we were, and we'd have to jump to reach it.

"Uh, Mugi, that's like a three meter jump there and down. Which is about a five meter fall." Azusa kindly pointed out.

"I know how the Pythagorean Theorem works." I nodded. "If you hit the catwalk rolling, you'll be fine."

"I don't know about this, we should find another way." She was already turning around to go back the way we came.

"Hold on," I stopped her by grabbing her shoulder. "I have an idea. I'll make the jump, and when I'm down there, I'll catch you."

"What if you miss me? I'd probably break my legs!"

"Then I'll have to try hard not to miss." I gave an adventurous smile and started running across the icy, snow covered wooden roof. I had to thank whatever deities were watching me here in Midgard that this was not a tiled or slanted roof. Be extra careful, I ignored Azusa's protests, ran across the roof and made the jump. I easily cleared the distance and set myself up to roll when I hit the catwalk.

This would have worked fine, except I had never actually made a rolling landing like this before. I may have had a tunic, but I was certainly no Link. I hit the ground hard, with pain shooting up my ankles and to my legs as I feel over. The pain was worse in my knees and I was afraid I had broken something. I was able to stand though, and at worst I just bruised myself pretty badly.

"Owwweee…" I winced. "Jello knees…"

"Are you alright Mugi?" Azusa called down to me.

"Yeah, I just didn't roll!" I called back, and felt my knees trembling from the pain. I would bear through it though, because I was a big girl. "Jump down, I'll catch you!"

"What if you miss though!" She asked again.

"You'll be fine! The fall will just hurt really badly!" I realized this probably wasn't very motivating.

"Mugi, we could have gotten up there from the balcony below, you didn't have to jump." She pointed out with her high vantage point. "See, I can see the ladder leading up there from right here. Why don't I go and take it?"

"Just-" I was interrupted by the sound of explosion behind me, and I quickly turned around to see what that was. One of the northern guard towers had just exploded into a fireball and was now collapsing. The wooden palisade wall was now in flames, along with the buildings all around it. From the gate on the main road, I could see mounted warriors of both parties fighting there. One was trying to hold the line and the other was trying to break it. I could hear the shouting of men, the ringing of steel, and the snarls and the cries of the wolves they were mounted atop. The line was being pushed back as the men of Tartungar's Grave's militia were cut down and their wolves being slain seconds later. I realized grimly that these men were _losing_ this battle. I only hoped Suden was okay, and knew when to retreat if things got too hairy.

"Clock's ticking, Azusa-chan, come on!" I shouted at her, with most of my patience now gone. We needed to get out of here before raider archers decided to use us as target practice.

"O-Okay!" She finally gave in, thankfully. "Just be ready!"

"I will be!"

Azusa disappeared from sight as she went to get some distance for the jump. She reappeared seconds later and did the leap of faith at me. Being that the fall wasn't all that far, she didn't have a chance to scream or flail her arms in midair like I would have expected her to. I was true to my word, and caught her like a prince would a princess falling from a tower in some fable. Except I wasn't a prince, and having 46kg of Azusa slam into me was too much. I stumbled back, still carrying her, and fell on my butt.

"Are you okay, Mugi?" She had her arms around my neck, and in any other circumstance, this would have been incredibly romantic.

"Yes, I am." I nodded. "Out of all of the things that have fallen on me, you're definitely my favorite."

"Then I guess you're my favorite thing to land on." Azusa cringed and blushed at her own words. "Sorry, that was stupid..."

"It was, but I'd forgive it if you got off me." I replied. "We really need to keep moving."

"You're right, sorry!" Azusa stood up and helped me to do the same.

Limping a bit, I hurried up the stairs to the roof here. They hugged against one side of the building, and went up a good twelve meters, which probably meant this building had multiple floors inside. The stairs weren't too narrow, but there was no guard rail or anything like that, so if we slipped on the snow and ice, we'd have a long and nasty fall. We made it to the top though, and happily found out this had been just the right way to go.

"I knew jumping randomly from building to building would be a great idea!" I did a victory pump with my fist. "My aching knees may disagree with me, but we've never seen eye to eye on anything!"

Azusa gave a dry chuckle and shook her head. "What would I do without you?"

The structure as built against the side of the mountain here, and had a trail paved with stones leading into it. If Suden was right, we could just follow this and it would take us northeast of the village and give a good distance between us in the fighting hopefully. "Come on Azusa-chan, I think this is the way out."

"Right behind you!"

The mountains up here were covered with trees and snow, and within moments Tartungar's Grave was behind us and we were in the forest. The sounds of battle were still strong, and echoed with the winds up there. To the north, the ground gradually sloped downwards, giving this area the feel of a giant hill. The ground was very rocky, with ice covering just about everything it seemed like. We really had to be careful to avoid slipping. I almost fell once as we moved north-northeast, but Azusa was there to catch me in an instant.

"So… we made it." She sighed in relief after a few minutes. The snow was picking up again now, making it hard to see very far ahead of us.

"Yeah." I found myself smiling. "That was actually kind of fun, running away like that. Except for the part where I almost broke my legs."

"Or the part where I fell on you." She added.

"No, that wasn't bad at all. You're soft." I told her, and watched her blush slightly at my compliment. I liked how I could make her just melt with kind words. I was worried I was coming off as a tease though.

"Just what part of me were you t- whoa!" She was cut off as her feet slipped out from under her. I quickly caught one of her arms with my hands, and grabbed onto me. One hand grabbed my arm, and the other had grabbed a handful of my left breast.

"He-ey, not so rough." I winced at her sudden squeeze there.

"Sorry, sorry, that was an accident!" She quickly let go of me.

"Happy accident or not, we need to be careful." I straightened up my tunic and noticed just how much steeper the slope north had gotten. Not only that, it was a lot rockier and icier too. One good slip and we could go tumbling down to the bottom. Suden had been right, this looked incredibly difficult to climb back up.

Slowly but surely we made our way down it. It was about a hundred meters total, and led us out of the mountains into what Azusa told me was Nekonotochi. This was the last leg of our journey. I could only hope Suden and the others had been successful against the raiders, because Azusa and I would need to come _back_ this way if she was going to stay with me. If this was the case, we would need to look into finding an alternative route.

North of the mountains were snowy fields extending as far as the eye could see. We kept moving forward, hindered slightly by the lack of road and heavy snowfall. The snow had stopped though, and we could see for kilometers ahead.

"The forests the raiders came from were from the northwest, if I recall right." I mused aloud. "I wonder if we should start heading west to find the road again. It feels like we could get lost out here if we just kept heading this way."

"Hmm, good point." Azusa nodded. "The snow is good for hiding too, and it'll be hard for anyone to get the drop on us if we're in these fields and hills. If we see any raiders, hiding in the snow should be pretty easy. Unless they have wolves with them. In that case-"

"Wolves or not, I'd keep you safe." I cut her off.

"Yeah, you would, so there's no use worrying about it." She sighed dreamily. For a moment, she took my arm and hugged herself against it. "Do you how it feels like being with my hero like this?"

"Oh, I'm no hero." I said, modestly. "I wish you wouldn't think so highly of me."

"You are, for me." She let go of my arm and kept walking beside me. "I'm a skald, Mugi. I've grown up on stories and tales, and now I'm part of one. I feel like this story is just beginning too. It's exciting to be part of it, and to know that no matter what happens you'll be there to protect me and keep me safe."

"To my dying breath." I nodded.

"Because you're Mugi-chan: Defender of the Cute." She giggled.

Her laughter was infectious, and soon I was smiling and giggling to. "When we get to your home, I want to talk to your mother about some of the legends I've heard in this world. Some of them seem really interesting, especially a select few."

"Oh, my step-mom would be perfect for answering any questions, or telling you stories. It's almost like she knows everything! What did you want to know though?" She asked me after her excited reply.

I just shrugged. "You'll have to wait and see, now come on, let's get to somewhere safe first."

We kept moving, straying west now with hopes to find the road again. As we walked, I wondered what Azusa's mothers would think of me. Honestly, any opinion they could have of me would probably be better than Lord Akiyama's. I was sure he probably sitting around right now making a noose that was just my neck's size. I wondered how Azusa would introduce me. Would she say I was her friend? Her rescuer and gallant knight? Or something more than that? I was eager to see how this exchange would play out, and felt confident it would go well. What I wasn't looking forward to was going back to Sakuragyfli and having to explain to everyone that I wanted to go off on some quest because a shapeshifter showed up and told me where to go to find an almighty and powerful artifact.

Coming from the south-southwest I saw four mounted people on the backs of wolves. They were riding towards the two of us, and closing the distance fast.

"Azusa-chan!" I shouted, and without a word she tossed me my wand of fireballs, and then handed me Talvimiekka. I wished I knew some sort of call sign for Tartungar's Grave so I could know whether or not these were good or bad guys. Azusa stood right behind me, hiding behind my larger form as the riders came to us.

I breathed a breath of relief when I saw who it was. Suden Uni, with three archers. She was cut and bleeding in several places, but nothing looked even remotely severe.

"Suden, you're okay!" I exclaimed.

"Tartungar's Grave is not." Suden told me, grimly. "Those raiders must have hired on a mercenary force with a mage. Stuff began exploding, fires got out of control, and a lot of good men were killed."

"I'm so sorry to hear that." I lowered my head in respect. "What happens now?"

"The enemy has the town now, and we're cut off from those who fled south." She answered. "There's only a handful of us north here, and we plan to head to Nekonotochi and try to get Varyag's help to deal with this from there. However, there's one last thing we need to do, and we need your help for it."

"What's that?" I asked, just a teensy bit nervously.

"Southwest of here is where the leaders of that raider faction are. Their soldiers are still enjoying the spoils of war, but we know their leaders are separated right now. We're going to ride and make one final attack against them. You are a dragon slayer; a small band of warriors should be nothing for you. The two of us will meet them on the ground while my three men here give us ranged support. Not to mention, we have wolf support and they do not here."

Azusa then asked something from behind me. "How do you know about their strength? Did you spy on them and then run?"

"A raven told me." Suden answered.

"A raven?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." She nodded.

"Some ravens can speak like humans." Azusa told me. "I think that's how Mugitsu spies on us at times."

"It's true." Suden said. "I am close friends to one such bird. He is honorable, his word is true. So I ask you, no, I beg you! Please come with us for this battle. We have six others waiting on the main road without mounts. For each of us there are four of them, but it matters not to us. We are stronger warriors, they only succeeded with their mages and their numbers."

"I don't know…" I looked the other way and felt anxiety gripping me. I felt like I was being called out on being something I wasn't. She thought I was a warrior, but I had never battled anyone other than Mugitsu, and that had gone disastrously. I looked at the wand in my hand and thought about how much destruction that little thing could bring. If they had a mage with them, I could reduce him to a pile of smoldering ashes before lightning was thrown around. I could save lives with this power. I took a deep breath and then nodded. "No, I do know. I have a powerful magical wand here that can create massive explosions. If I can use it to help protect any of you, I will."

"Ha! That will be immensely useful!" Suden laughed. "Finding you truly was a wise decision!"

"Wait, Mugi, don't do this!" Azusa gripped my arm, fearful for me. "We're already out of this. Let's just go to my home where it's safe, there's no need to risk your life."

I shook my head. "No, Azusa-chan, I'm not going to just leave when I can make a difference. I can't be the hero you say I am by just running away."

She stood in front of me and gripped my tunic in her hands. "Please don't do this! I can't bear to think what I would do if something happened to you."

"Keep following the road, Azusa-chan." I told her in a quiet, serious voice. "I'll do my part and we'll win this battle as quickly as possible. Then, I'll ride with Suden back, and pick you up along the way."

Without warning she threw herself into me, hugging me as tight as she could and nearly knocking the wind out of me. Her head was buried in my chest, and I dropped Talvimiekka in the snow so I could hug her back properly.

"Just come back safe." She sniffled once. "We'll meet my parents again and have a giant dinner of the best food you'll ever taste. You just have to come back safe!"

"Don't cry Azusa-chan, I'll be with you again before you even know it." I whispered to her. She lifted her head from my chest so we could look each other in the eyes. I used the back of my hand to wipe her tears away before pressing my forehead against hers. I gently held her head with my hands for a moment and kissed her on the forehead once.

Sadly, I had to let her go. I picked up Talvimiekka and saw Suden outstretching her hand to help me up onto Pedon Loitsu.

I took it and said my goodbye to Azusa, wishing her well.

I wondered if this was the right choice, and how much danger I was in. I guess I would see.


	24. Bloodshed

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN  
>CHAPTER 24<br>BLOODSHED**

"_Finally the storm arrives  
>Our wait is at an end<br>Under dark winter skies  
>We make our final stand<em>

_For each of us there are four of them  
>It matters not to us<br>We won't leave this field in shame  
>We are here to crush<em>"

-_With Oden on Our Side_ by _Amon Amarth_

The five of us were riding through the snow, the wolves kicking up a cloud of it behind us. In my left hand was a wand that could conjure great balls of fire, and in my right was a sword as blue as the sky. The sun shone off its edge, and I mentally went over Yui's lessons in sword fighting. I felt naked without any sort of armor, and really hoped no one we were facing was armed with a longbow. I had to be quick with that wand if any ranged opponents presented themselves.

"I suppose it was only a matter of time." Suden spoke up as we galloped on. One of the men riding by our side nudged his wolf closer to us.

"What do you mean, Suden?" He asked. He was a lean man with long platinum hair flowing in the wind behind him. On his back was a composite bow, reinforced with bone and metal, and strung with three strings.

"Tartungar's Grave survived the Fifty Skirmish War, but I knew it was only a matter of time before mercenaries would swoop in to finish us off." Her voice was grave, and I was just a little bit more afraid of riding into this battle. "We'll finish these bastards off, and then… I suppose Pedon and I will ride west to Varyag and make a new life for ourselves. If I don't make it, then I eagerly await my place at the side of my sons and my fathers in Odin's court. Let us just be thankful it is not that vile Mugitsu who claimed this victory."

"Yes, let's." I whispered.

"Were your sons with us, I would feel more confident about this battle." The platinum-haired warrior commented. "At least we have the honor of falling to men, and not giants."

"Aye." Suden nodded her head in agreement.

"But we're not going to die, are we?" I tried my best to sound confident.

"I hope not." Suden replied. "There is no shame in claiming your own life would the battle prove unfavorable. You are very beautiful, Tsumugi, I think we both know death would be a preferable alternative to a life in slavery for you. The eternal wait is almost over too. If we become Einherjar, the last battle will be here soon!"

"The end of times." The archer beside us sighed, and looked up at the gray sky. He then looked forward and pointed at a cluster of shapes in the distance. "Three wolves, a half-score of men. Two of the wolves look like twins."

"Ilta and Sisko." Suden nodded. "I remember when they were little whelps, the only ones of their litter. Two wolves and ten men, our odds look much more favorable. We have a true fighting force now!"

I just then realized how far Azusa and I had walked north now that I was trekking back south. I wondered how Azusa was doing on her own, and I suddenly felt awful about leaving her behind. I now wanted nothing more than to be at her side to make sure she was safe. I also wanted Mio with me too, to make _me _feel safer. With her incredible magic, I wouldn't have a single ounce of fear towards this battle. I really wished I had a potent black-haired mage to keep me safe.

A strange feeling suddenly washed over me at that thought, and for a moment I felt like I was dreaming. I was assaulted with a variety of thoughts and memories that weren't my own, and the rush nearly made me fall off the wolf.

_"Onee-chan." I looked up and saw her standing over me. My sister, beautiful and graceful with her pale skin and raven hair. Her hand was outstretched to me, and I weakly raised my arm to grasp it. I was in incredible pain, aching from a dozen wounds from all manner of weapons and hellish magic. My splint-mail armor was battered and dented, broken in countless places._

_ She helped me up, and I looked at the battlefield around us. My faithful blade, that shining blue sword, lay several meters away. It was firmly stuck into the chest of a Varangian wolf. Its blood and the blood of its rider were splattered all around the snow. The field around us was more red than white, and fires burned over several of the corpses from my sister's magic. My head ached, and I could barely remember why we fought this battle. The two of us, against fifty of them, and we somehow came out on top. _

_ "Onee-chan." She said once more, and gently wrapped her arms around me. My knees were weak, but she prevented me from falling over. I knew she was too weak to hold me up with my armor on, and that some enchantment was giving her this strength. "You must take care of yourself in battle. I won't always be around to keep you safe. I think maybe it would be better if it were just me fighting from now on. I can't stand to see you hurt, Onee-chan…"_

_ I heard arrogance in her voice. She was reveling seeing me like this, being the superior sibling. After the years and years I fought to keep her safe, and everything I had done to care for her, now the roles were reversed. I wondered if she had been jealous of me._

I blinked rapidly as this sudden memory vanished and I was myself again. I didn't understand what I had just seen, or what significance it had. I was not a fool; I knew this was taken from the heart of my dead self of this world. Was there something she was trying to tell me from wherever she was? I wondered if there was a clue in how to finally defeat Mugitsu in all of this. If anyone knew her weakness, it would be her sister. But was her dead sister still a conscious entity? People said that divine beings turned to Sprite Shards when killed, and Valkyries were divine. They also said that Sprite Shards could manifest and influence things around them, like how they played music. Could it be that dead Tsumugi's essence was living on around me? That would certainly explain these visions I saw of her memories, and knowing things that I shouldn't know.

I was now excited from this sudden revelation. I felt like I had figured out a piece of the puzzle. I hoped that when the puzzle of my existence here was finally complete, it would show me the way home... but I can't leave before I bring Mio back…

Our group met up with the other militia members and their wolves. From them, a large, muscular woman with hair much like mine stepped forward. On her back was a great bow, like the one the archer riding with us had, and atop her head was a wolf's jaw like Suden's. She saluted us, and said in a relieved voice, "I heard we'd be receiving reinforcements for the final push, but I didn't expect see four wolves and Suden. Did you find any stragglers north?"

"No." Suden replied, then reached back to pat my thigh. "I only found her - a warrior lending herself to our cause. She may not look like much, but she is the type we will sing songs about. Dragon-killer Mugi! Giant-feller Mugi! Demon-slayer Mugi!"

My face went stark red, and I shook my head nervously. "Oh, no , I-I'm not like that. I-I mean it's true, yes, I've beaten enemies like that, but I'm no legend."

"Help us win this, and we'll make sure you are one." Suden assured me. She then looked to the rest of our fighting force. "Alright, if the ravens are correct, our enemy has their wolves directed south towards our village. This leaves their leaders near the forest vulnerable to our own. The archers and our guest here will be responsible for clearing the ranged opposition. _Do not_ jump into the fray until their support is dealt with. Once battlefield is secured, we and our wolves will meet them and give them a taste of Tartungar's fury. Alright, forward to glory then!"

There was a chorus of mighty cheers and roars from the fourteen people around me. I was silent, too full of anxiety to be excited about this fight. My faith was placed in my strictly unfair advantage with magical weapons, and I knew they were what would keep me alive in this, if anything. The wand, the wand was what I need to focus with. I also knew I needed to be careful because I didn't quite know how large the explosions it created were. I would look _really _stupid if I ended up in Valhalla because I blew myself up. It would be even worse if I managed to blow an ally up. I didn't think I could live with myself if that happened.

Slowly, we advanced through the field of snow. The forest was not far away, and I could see the small forms of figures against its edge. I couldn't say for sure, but it looked like they were readying for battle. The men on foot led our march, while the four wolves stayed behind them, two on either side. I was feeling more and more dread by the second, and wanted so badly to not be a part of this. I couldn't bring myself to flee though. I knew these people were counting on me, and I wouldn't let them down.

Soon we were a mere fifty meters from our enemy. I placed their numbers at around fifty - Just over four times what we possessed. We had wolves though, and I almost felt sorry for the poor people who would be at the angry end of those beasts' teeth. More than that, I had something to really clear some of their group.

I was really having trouble stomaching the idea that I wouldn't just be fighting people, but potentially killing a lot of them. I had to remember what Yui told me a long time ago when I first started training with her. I couldn't look into the face of my foe and see their life. I had to think of them as just an enemy looking to end my own. If I hesitated; if I showed fear; if I had an ounce of doubt; I would die.

And I wasn't going to die before I found this _sampo_.

"Dismount!" Suden cried, before hopping off Pedon in a flash, then went to help me down.

"Trust me; you don't want to be on the back of a fighting wolf, Tsumugi." She told me.

"Thanks for the advice." I replied, somehow still well-mannered in the face of death.

"Alright, archers, Tsumugi, flank and advance!" She ordered.

We had six marksmen with us, including that large blonde woman. The ranged combatants split in two groups of three, with me being the fourth of one. We navigated around the warriors and each headed in a different direction from them diagonally. My group went left, and the other went right, moving so we can attack from the either side of the enemy. They eyed us from afar; weapons and shields ready. Suden and the rest drew their shields and weapons as well. Almost ritually, they began clanging their axes, swords, spears and shields together in unison while moving forward at a slower pace than us. The enemy returned the gesture, and soon the snowy field - bordered by forest behind our foes - echoed with the sound of steel on wood. It was like the heartbeat of war, and I found myself twirling my enchanted sword in my right hand to its beat. Each time I heard that echoing clatter, I spun the blade once. My wand, the key to winning this fight, was gripped firmly in my left hand.

I saw on the shields of these raiders a painted symbol of a single eye. I had been in Midgard long enough to know it was the sign of the All-father, Odin. I wondered who, if anyone, Odin was granting strength this day.

It started without warning, beginning with some sign between archers I was not aware of. Suddenly the six were readying arrows and choosing targets.

"Kill who we must, then run back to the main group. The four of us cannot face the horde alone." The blonde giant of an archer said beside me. I gave a nod and tried to follow their example. I needed to find a target, but I couldn't spot anyone armed with a bow of any kind. Furthermore, a black pit of fear in my gut was causing me to hesitate. I didn't want to hurt anyone, no matter how dire the situation was.

I don't know how my archer companions chose their targets, but soon their composite bows were sending arrows whistling through the air. Those arrows pierced the wood of shields, and punched through helmets like they were made of tinfoil. I saw one; two, three, and then five men drop to the ground with arrows imbedded deep into their chests and heads. The snow turned red around them, and I felt nauseous.

We had not strayed far from the main group, and soon they were rushing to meet the horde. The four of us were moving quickly back to them, and I realized I was doing absolutely nothing to help. Two men with axes and shields charged us, and I watched with little satisfaction as arrowed punched through their mail armor and left them dying in the snow.

Fighting my reluctance and nervousness, and remembering Yui's words once more, I raised my wand and did what I came here to do. Waving it like a conductor would, I swished it four times and aimed towards the charging horde. I was barely aware of the some sixty people shouting in unison around me, and to me, the battlefield may have well been silent.

A great ball of flame appeared with a deafening boom amidst the raider's fighting force. My aim had been dreadfully accurate, killing more of them than I could have possibly hoped. The ball of fire was nearly white with its intensity, and when in faded, it left only a blackened crater. I realized with some amazement that I had single-handedly demolished at least two-thirds of their entire group in mere seconds.

I knew I wasn't going to sleep well after this.

Raiders, mercenaries - Whatever they were, they were almost in complete panic. A good five of them were running around on fire, screaming maniacally in the pain I had unleashed upon them. Wolves surged forward and met the stragglers there, intent on finishing off what was left. It looked like our numbers were even, and this had just begun. Feeling like I had done enough, I began to step backwards with my eyes peeled for anyone who was seeking a little revenge against me. I was content to sit the rest of this out and let them no doubt sing praises about me when this was over.

The two frontlines hadn't even met yet, but the wolves had already begun engaging the raiders. The two I knew as twins lunged forward at a single warrior, who desperately raised his shield and fell back to avoid them. It was fruitless, he soon found his sword arm caught in the jaw of one, and I watched in utter disgust and horror as his arm was removed in a single flick of the beast's jaw. His comrades ran to face the wolves, swinging their axes and spears at the canines. Their hides were thick enough to pretty much shrug off steel, and I suddenly understood why these creatures were so valued.

The screaming though, I wished above all else for the screaming to stop. The screaming of the men on fire; the screaming of the man who lost an arm; the frenzied screams of the militiamen eager to taste blood.

The battle suddenly took a strange turn when a great pillar of fire appeared over the twin wolves, and only them. I was left lost in confusion and panic as this precise beam of hellfire reduce the two creatures to cinder. I saw it then, the thing I _should _have been looking for the whole time. Near the forest was a man hovering a good ten meters off the ground, surveying the battle from afar.

He was dressed in heavy robes, with a fur mantle, and a headpiece fastened from the head of a great stag. In his hands was a staff, one that he had pointed towards the battlefield. In the blink of an eye, a third wolf was demolished under another pillar of sky-fire raining down from above. Thankfully it was not Pedon. Pedon was back with the militia, keeping a protective distance from Suden.

I knew what I had to do; I raised my wand and faced the mage unleashing havoc. I was too slow though; he faced me back and drew a kanji in the air with his free hand. I frantically worked to blast him with what amounted to a magical predator missile, but he was faster. Suddenly, I froze in place, unable to move. Panic exploded in me more than ever, because I was now entirely both helpless and useless in this fight. If a single one of those thirteen or so surviving raiders decided to waltz in my direction, I was dead; simple as that. I was frustrated at this as it reminded of that battle with Mugitsu long ago.

The militia and the raiders finally collided, now on nearly even ground. Suden was at the head of the charge, while Pedon seemed reluctant to join the battle. I didn't blame her, after seeing three of my kind die like that, I sure wouldn't be eager either. It was hard to gauge which side was going to come out on top, being they were evenly matched in numbers, gear, and even skill it seemed like. Suden was a much more proficient warrior than her comrades, I saw her fell two men on her own, dropping them using her sword with ease.

A sudden explosion rang out beside me as a blast of lightning streaked across the battlefield. The three archers beside me were caught right in its line. It had been angled so perfectly that it had hit all three of them. I could see them fall to the ground from the corner of my eye, writhing and crying out in pain. My ears were ringing, and I was close enough to that bolt that I felt some of its effects. My left arm was numb and tingling with pain now. I saw the mage moving forward through the air, going to meet the battle head on with his magic. Another kanji was drawn, and the other archers went up in a ball of fire like the one I had created. This left only me and the militia, who had already suffered what looked like three or four casualties.

I realized with sudden horror, _that we were losing this_. As soon as this awful curse was gone, I could join this again and finish them off with my wand; or even sword. I just had to wait impatiently for this to end. I couldn't remember how long this had lasted when Mugitsu had inflicted it on me, but I prayed it would be shorter this time since Mugitsu was definitely a much more powerful mage.

Things were not going well on the front line either. A raider warrior had maneuvered around Suden and delivered a quick and powerful sword slash to her back. I heard her cry out and in pain and quickly turn around; deflecting a sword swing from the man she had been previously fighting with her shield. The shield shattered as steel met wood, and I doubted things were going to go well for her. One of her companions at her side acted quickly, hacking at the man who had attacked her with her axe. He fell to his knees, and Suden dropped her shield and drew the axe from her belt. For the first time, I saw someone from Midgard dual-wielding. The axe in her hand came down on the man who wounded her. The first swing broke his helmet; the second went straight through his head. She still had the other raider to contend with, and spun around quickly to stab him in the gut. I could have sworn I saw her smile as she twisted the sword and watched her foe scream.

I was obviously glad she was victorious, but I knew she wouldn't last long. Blood was _gushing_ from her wound, and there were still some seven or eight men to deal with, and it was just her and five others now. Plus, there was that awful mage too. If I could just move, I could remove him from the picture and we could _finish _this.

Suden dropped her sword and raised her axe with both hands, felling another warrior who advanced too close to her. The axe took his head clean off, but left her open to another strike from his comrade.

I found my curse was ended as I cried out as Suden was finally killed as a sword was rammed into her chest.

_No! No! No! No! Oh, now you've done it, NOW YOU'VE REALLY DONE IT! Well, Suden, I hope you and your sons can have a drink together. Save a seat for me, just in case, there's only four of us left now. Alright, Kotobuki Tsumugi, this is it, everything you've learned and experienced has led up to this moment. I can do this…_

My left arm was still tingling, but I managed to raise my wand for another ball of hellfire. The mage saw me doing this, and began drawing another kanji. This time, I was faster than him though. Suden had said we were facing their leaders, and I hoped this guy was the one directing this whole show. He disappeared, and was replaced by a white-hot ball of fire that erased his sad little self from existence. Now that he was gone, it was just the four of us against the seven of them. Our enemy knew it was me who had decimated them, and three charged me. I knew using my wand here would only cause problems, so I shoved it into my belt and raised my sword with both hands.

"Let's see how you handle a sword, mage bitch!" The first hairy and grizzled mercenary shouted at me as he led the charge. There was a bit of distance between him and his allies behind him, giving me a few seconds to fight him alone. I hoped it would be enough, and that my sword was as glorious as it looked.

"_This is for Suden!_" I screamed and met his charge. This was my first real fight, and it was time to see just how good of a teacher Yui was. He came at me with an overhead cleave, and I was almost surprised at just how open he had left himself. Yui had provided me plenty demonstrations on just how to handle a charging foe like this. He was big and clumsy, and I was quick and agile.

I side-stepped his charge like I had done in practice a hundred times, and counter-attacked horizontally. Talvimiekka met his gut and sliced him clean open. He screamed and desperately tried to keep his guts in as he fell to the ground. I only gave him a quick glimpse and was not particularly proud of my handiwork. He was writing on the ground, screaming, and turning the snow around him red. The blood was steaming, and I wrinkled my nose at the smell.

My fear was gone, replaced with adrenaline and anger over Suden's death.

The next came at me slower, wielding a bearded axe and a round wooden shield. I wasn't quite sure how to tackle this foe, but I knew I would need to act quickly before I had two of them on me.

"The game's up, Varangian whore." My enemy spat at me.

"I'll win." I said through gritted teeth.

"Just give up, make it easier for us all." He was pacing around me, and I realized I had hesitated too much. His similarly armed companion was on me as well, stepping around me to flank me. I held my sword out and faced my first opponent, but constantly looked back at the other. In the corner of my eye, I saw that another militiaman had fallen. There was some good news though; it was two of them against a single raider. This put us three to two, but I had two on me.

The first man quickly lurched towards me, swinging his axe horizontally. I blocked it rather easily with my sword, and kept trying to circle him. My nerves were on edge with these two flanking me, and I was just barely able to react in time to block the second attack from behind me. I spun around quickly and stopped the overhead cleave, and then managed to spin around fast enough to deflect yet another axe swing. Out of the attacks, I was able to scramble away from them, finally free of their trap. I kept up my circling on that same opponent, soon putting him between me and the other.

My breath was heavy, and I was damp with sweat now. This quick skirmish with these three had left me exhausted, and I wasn't sure how much more of it I could do.

"You're quick, damn fucking quick, I'll give you that." The warrior before me 'complimented'. "I don't get it, why'd a pretty girl like you learn to fight. I can think of a hundred and one uses for you, and not one has a sword."

I didn't reply to the taunting, and used this break in the action to catch my breath. It seemed like they knew I was a faster and probably superior fighter, and were taking it slowly because of that.

"You remind me of those bitches far west in the gladiator pits of Mercett. In fact, I think we could make enough money to retire if we just sold you to a pit master there. Know what happens when a bitch gladiator loses a fight?"

I remained silent, but assumed the answer was "They die."

"They got mages there that keep the bitch gladiators from dying. The loser has to service all the men on the winner's side, at once, in front of everyone. How do you like that? Sounds like something a bitch like you would sign up for?"

The mental image that came with those words was only in my head for a brief moment, but it was enough to send me over the edge.

"_Shut up!_" I screamed and threw myself at him. I was being reckless, and stupid, but his taunting had got to me. I swung my sword down at him, causing him to raise his shield in defense. It was no good, Talvimiekka split the wood and dug deep into his arm. He screamed, to my satisfaction, and raised the sword and swung once more. This time I removed his head with a single cleave. It bounced several times in the snow, and the blood trail it left steamed in the snow.

I didn't even have a second to enjoy my victory. A colossal force collided with me, sending me sprawling into the snow and causing me to drop my weapon. I rolled over on my back and saw the second man standing there, bare-handed. He looked like the typical Varangian man with fair feature, long blonde hair, and shining blue eyes. He looked young, closer to my age, and something about him looked familiar. He stomped his foot down on my chest, his boot knocking the wind out of me. There was no satisfied smile on his face over his victory. He looked cold and uncaring.

"I thought I recognized you." He hissed, and spat in my face. I winced and felt nauseated, but there wasn't much I could do. "Remember me?"

I didn't recognize him, and I was too busy trying to find a way out of this spot to think about it. I didn't reply, and looked to my right to find my sword a mere meter away. I reached my arm out and he responded by stomping hard on my hand. I cried out once in pain, but didn't feel anything break.

"Of course you don't remember me, why would you?" He then mocked me. "Look at you now. You can try to play with the boys, but in the end, you're still a weak little girl who's nothing without her toys!" He suddenly dropped on top of me, pinning me with his body weight, and delivered a swift punch to my face. My nose crunched and I tasted blood. He screamed at me, "_Where's that little black haired bitch mage of yours now!_" He punched me once more. "_What about that magic flying sword, huh!_" Another fist collided with my face. "_How about that blue sword you killed my comrades with? Where is it now?_"

Dazed from pain and fear, I at least knew who he was. It was a survivor of that slave attack from my first days in Sakuragyfli. Now I just needed to find a way to get out from under him and get to my weapon…

"You know, for the longest time, I kept thinking how much I hated that flying sword of yours. Now I understand that a sword has two sides. The edge, and the wielder, and I know which side I truly hate." He drew a dagger from his belt, and wasted no time pressing it against my neck.

_I guess this really is it. I… I don't even know what to think. I'm so sorry, Azusa-chan, I should have listened to you…_

Something happened, and in a flash I eluded death once again. An insane part of my mind joked that I should have given it a high-five as he passed with how often I came close to dying.

A man who I hadn't noticed before kicked my attacker straight in the side of the head. He was knocked off me, and looked like he was rendered unconscious. Through my black eyes I looked up to see a tall man with long black hair and a stylish goatee a bit fuller than Lusefarian's. His ears stuck from his hair, and were pointed. I realized with some amazement that he was an elf, and _not_ a militiaman. He pulled me upward by my hair, provoking a squeak of pain and surprise from me.

"The prick almost killed you." He commented in a tone that sounded impatient.

The elf let go of my hair, and I struggled to stand as I looked down at the unconscious form of the man who nearly killed me. Stupidly, I replied, "Y-yeah."

I stepped to retrieve my sword, and he yanked me back roughly by the collar. It was then that I noticed the ten or so raiders approaching us from behind him.

"Just because I don't want you dead, doesn't mean I'm on your side." He said with a wicked smirk. I looked around and couldn't see the remaining militiamen. I could only assume they had died as well. "Petri was a fool, and you, my lovely lass, are worth enough to make us all rich. A beautiful Varangian warrior like you would be quite an attraction as a gladiator. I know a few buyers."

I flinched at his plans.

"Heis." One of the raiders approached the elf, apparently speaking his name. "Are we sure we wanna keep her alive?" I flinched at that more than I had at Heis' plans. "I mean, think about it, how many people did we watch her kill? Our friends aren't going to like this walking slice of death hanging around in camp."

Heis grabbed the raider by the collar and yanked him close. I had always pictured elves as being fair and gentle, but this man was frankly terrifying. "Listen you stupid asshole." He growled. "This little babe just torched the boss, and that makes _me_ in charge. If I say we keep her, we keep her. Anyone who so much as harms a fucking _hair_ on her head is getting tied to a tree and made into a human practice dummy! Have I made myself clear?"

The general consensus from the men was that he had made himself clear.

While they were letting Heis know they understood him, I decided that I would take a risk. I knew what they had in store for me if I were to remain captured. They spoke of selling me off to a land far away, and I knew Varyag was massive. I would never see my friends again and have no chance to be rescued. The way I saw it, running and potentially being killed seemed like a _much_ better option. Valhalla didn't sound all too bad, and there was always the fact that Eila had been brought back from the dead too. I could see someone going through the effort to ressurect me. I didn't exactly want to die though, because dying made rescuing Mio a lot more difficult. No matter how I looked at it, this was a risk worth taking.

So ran. I ran, grabbed Talvimiekka as I went without looking back. I kicked up a cloud of snow behind me as I sprinted for all I was worth. I heard shouting and the noises of people behind me. In my state of pain and exhaustion, I didn't know how far I would be able to make it, but this was still a much more preferable alternative.

_No, no, no, I need to stop having these awful thoughts! I'm too dedicated to my friends, and what I need to do to get back Mio. I'm not invincible though, and if I make the slightest mistake I'll wind up dead. I just have to keep my chin up and my head clear. They're wearing armor behind me, not a lot, but enough to slow them down. I'm a fast runner too, a few punches to the face can't slow me down! I just have to get some distance between me and them… maybe if I make to Nekonotochi; there will be guards or the like there to help me. Adrenaline and the threat of _dying_ should be able to keep me running for however many kilometers I would need to run._

I heard raiders on my tail, and I glanced over my shoulder to see a half dozen of them lumbering after me some five meters behind. They were just a little too close for me, and I saw Heis behind them with a longbow in his hands. That was _not_ something I was happy to see. If he was using the same arrow the militia archers were, then the force of one would probably rip my unarmored self in half. His bow didn't _look_ composite, but I knew looks in Midgard meant nothing. With the way things were going, I wouldn't have been surprised if it fired lightning bolts or 60mm shells.

The light of my salvation appeared though, and I couldn't help but smile. I was running north from my pursuers, and coming from the east was a great gray wolf that I recognized. Pedon's reluctance to get incinerated was going to be what got both of us out of here alive. Her thick gray fur was stained with blood in several places, and she didn't look quite as lively as before. The saddle she once bore was gone as well, and I guessed she had met battle elsewhere while we were getting torn apart out in this field. Varangian wolves had thick fur, but they weren't invisible it seemed.

"_Pedon, over here!_" I cried out, and waved my free arm. She bounded towards me, making me smile just a bit more. I didn't know what the poor beast had been through, but it was going to be over soon enough; for both of us.

She closed the distance between us quickly, but not without that awful elf firing three arrows into her side. I heard Pedon yelp each time, and I cringed while wishing bad things upon those who could even think of hurting a poor animal like that. I wasn't even thinking about how I had seen another wolf tear the arm off a man with the flick of its jaw.

I had sorely misjudged the speed of those behind me, when Pedon reached me, so had two raiders. I was exhausted, and didn't have much fight left in me. My lungs burned with every last breath, and each step I took made my legs ache a little bit more. One of these men was armed with sword and shield, something I could _probably_ handle if he was exhausted from running too. The other, though, boasted a pike. I knew that pole-arm beat sword every time if the wielder was competent.

"You had to bring the wolf…" The man with the sword and shield panted. Behind me Pedon growled, and I seriously wondered if these two thought they could handle both of us. I was extremely reluctant to partake in another fight, but with Pedon on my side, I felt like it would be impossible to lose. We would have to act quickly or we would be outnumbered heavily in a few seconds. "We would have let you live, but no, there's no way we can subdue you with that mangy beast. Make peace with your gods now!"

As he was finishing his monologue, I was busy trying to hop on Pedon's back to make a run for it. I struggled to get a grip with only one hand, and she yelped when I accidently brushed Talvimiekka's cold blade against her body.

"Sorry, sorry!" I quickly shouted. She kneeled finally, and I scrambled to hop on her back.

Cold steel slashed against my leg, just below the knee, as Pedon rose to escape. I gave a quick cry of pain, and practically screamed at my mount, "_Run! Get us out of here!_"

She obliged, and I grabbed a handful of gray fur to keep from falling off. Tears were filling my eyes from the pain in my leg there, and before we could really get running, I felt another explosion of tearing pain just below the armpit of my left side. The bastard with the pike had managed to get a swipe at me too as we began our escape. Warm blood suddenly began pouring down my side, and lurched forward in pain. I gripped my sword with left hand by the hilt and rested the blade over Pedon's back. She whined at it, but there wasn't much I could do. My right hand clutched at my wound, and more blood poured through my fingers. The cut on my leg had torn my black stocking, and sent blood dripping into my boot. That one was a light cut though, nothing more than grazing flesh wound. The wound under my arm seemed deeper though. The pain was intense, nearly causing me to double over and fall off the wolf more than once.

Gritting my teeth and blinking tears out of my eyes, I struggled to control my breathing. I desperately tried to remember how to care for a wound like this. I knew it wasn't too difficult, and I could probably stop the bleeding and survive this if I could tourniquet the wound properly. That was not something I was going to do on the back of a moving animal.

"Pedon…" I exhaled, finding it hard to speak. "I…I don't know if you can understand me, b-but take us into the forest. Take us somewhere safe where they won't find us."

Suddenly, she changed her direction from north to west, bounding off quickly to the forest. I was both amazed and relieved at the same time. Could Pedon truly understand me? I had no idea how smart these wolves were, but more and more I was beginning to understand their value.

_"We had best be careful in these woods, Onee-chan. They say the forests here are protected over by a great white wolf who hunts on the moon. She punishes those who harm these sacred forests, but protects the lost and weary."_

_ "Since when do you believe in fairy tales? Come on, let's just find somewhere to make camp before more of those mercenaries come around."_

More of those memories that weren't mine. I looked around at the snowy field, and forest we would be soon riding in. They looked familiar, like I had been here before. I only now noticed this because it was the first time I was really paying attention to my surroundings and not panicking. It was funny that only when I had a deep, bleeding wound that I was seeing things with some clarity. Maybe I was just too exhausted to be afraid anymore.

It hurt though, it hurt badly.

The forest here was like those we had passed on our way to Tartungar's Grave with the trolls. It was funny, because back then I had wished for more time to appreciate their beauty. The forests here were thicker, and the branches of the great trees kept the forest floor clear of snow. The ground was soft with moss and foliage. The smell of pine and earth was pleasing and relaxing, and now I really wished I didn't have multiple bleeding wounds so I could enjoy it more fully.

_I guess this is it though. You won, Midgard, I'm now part of you. I've ended the life of another human being. Not accidentally, not second hand through my magic sword, but directly by my own hands. I split a man's head open, and filleted the other like he was a piece of meat. Not all the blood on me is my own. So, this is it, I'm just another murdering sociopath like nearly everyone else I meet._

_ My hands aren't clean anymore. If I touch Azusa-chan, I'll make her dirty. Oh god, I don't think I can even look at her anymore after today. Maybe I should just ride back to Sakuragyfli. Ricchan would understand, she's an adventurer._

I slumped forward slightly on Pedon's back and winced as my hands shifted and grazed my wound. I cried then, quietly sobbing in the tranquility and sanctuary of this forest around me. Pedon was moving through the trees effortlessly, causing us to become lost well within the confines of this mazelike forest. I knew those raiders couldn't ever find us now. There was solace in that, but the tears still came. I felt like I had been raped somehow, like whatever was left of my innocence here had been torn away from me. I couldn't tell myself I had just been acting in self-defense. I couldn't buy that excuse. The blood was on _my_ hands.

Soon, Pedon came to a stop before a small stream tumbling down a hill. Next to the stream was a great fir tree, rivaling the size of grand redwoods in my own world. The base and roots were covered with soft moss that looked quite inviting. Pedon kneeled down, and I carefully slid off her while trying my best not upset my would.

Standing on my hurt leg was difficult, but I managed. I slumped across the moss covered tree, and found it moderately comfortable. I set Talvimiekka down beside me and let out a sigh of relief.

_I made it… it's over. I just need to rest a bit and I can continue on with my journey. Despite what I thought earlier, I _need_ to see Azusa-chan. She needs to know I'm alive and… well, not dead I suppose. I can't bear the thought of her still looking up to me, and admiring me as more than a friend after today though. I'm no role-model anymore._

With some painful exertion, I managed to pry off my boots and give my feet a much needed breath of fresh air. The tree I was against seemed to radiate warmth, which probably explained why so many green plants were growing nearby. Even without my magic ring, this would have been a comfortable and warm spot. Pedon rested beside me, her head near my waist. She whimpered slightly, and I gave her a pat on the head with my bloody hand.

"I'm sorry about Suden…" I told her as sympathetically as I could. "I guess you were really fond of her, huh?"

Pedon looked at me with great yellow eyes. Those eyes look sad, and it broke my heart to see.

"Don't think about what you could have done differently though." I said, and averted my gaze to the stream nearby. The water looked quite refreshing, but I was more content to sit and rest for a moment. "Someone very close to me died recently too. At first, all I could think about was what I should have done differently to protect her. But, for all we know, what we could have changed may have made things worse. We're both alive, Pedon, and that's what matters for now. Oh… and thanks for getting me out of that. I owe you one."

I couldn't help but smile and feel silly for talking to an animal like this. It made me feel better though, much better.

Pedon shifted forward and rested her head against me. I leaned on her, and gently stroked her head with my bloodied hands. She remained still.

"We'll visit where she fell when we leave." I told her. "You can say your final goodbyes."

Her tail wagged for a moment at that.

I rested for a good ten minutes before checking on my wounded self. The bleeding had slowed, and I was happy to see the pike had only given a superficial wound, like that sword had. It had bled though, and given me a quite a scare, it also still hurt, and would probably hurt for days. I was getting used to it, and was feeling less and less worried by the minute as I sat there in the forest with Pedon. We had been moving quickly through it, changing directions many times. I felt safe, and knew the militia could never find us here. I doubted I could find my way out of here without Pedon. She was loyal to me it seemed, at least for the time being. I was very grateful for this.

Relief over surviving that battle was overpowering all my other emotions. It was peaceful there, and I almost felt happy where I was. I didn't mind being alone there with Pedon. It was different than being alone in Sakuragyfli, because being alone around other people was a lot harder.

When I felt up to it, I drank from the icy-cold water near me and felt much better. I removed myself from my bloodied and torn clothes and bathed in the stream. The water seemed to carry my pain and troubles away, and I probably sat there in its freezing embrace for a good hour hugging my knees and letting myself become lost in thought. That little trinket on my finger made the freezing water only feel comfortable. Without it, it would have been excruciatingly painful from cold. My mood improved in the water greatly, and I was thinking more positively once again.

I mostly thought about how grateful I was to be where I was that very moment. I eluded death several times that day, and was fortunate to be alive and counting my blessings. I had been distraught about killing men with my sword, but now I was just happy that Yui had bestowed upon me the training to beat them. Overall, the day had been tragic, and I wished I had gone with Azusa, but I supposed I was lucky even get out of that in one piece.

I washed my clothes as well, and set them to dry upon a great root of that warmth-giving tree. I lied on my back between the roots in the grass and moss and was able to remove my ring for once. I didn't know what magical properties this tree had, but I was eager to take advantage of the warmth it radiated around it. I felt like I never wanted to leave that spot I was comfortably resting at. Pedon was asleep beside me, and the heat radiating off of her big furry form mixed with the heat from the tree to make me feel like I was resting in a sauna.

I remembered a story I heard from Ritsu when she was discussing with me some of the dangerous plants one had to be careful of in Midgard. The details were blurry, but she I remembered something about a sort of tree that used charming magic to fool weary travelers or animals into resting at their roots. The magic would make them never leave, and they would die. Their bodies would decompose and feed the tree. I think they were called something like Devil Hearths.

I yawned and rolled over before curling into a comfortable little ball. I felt so tired all of a sudden, and my wounds were no longer aching. I supposed I should have been worried about the situation Pedon and I were in, but I only wanted to sleep and rest there.

The more I rested there, the more I wondered why I ever even wanted to leave. Pedon stirred and pushed herself to her feet and bounded off somewhere. She was leaving in a hurry, making me wonder why she would want to leave this wonderful place.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Author's Notes: **__Hopefully, hopefully, _hopefully_ this will be the chapter that's not riddled with dumb typos. I read this whole thing _out loud_ to try hunting them myself._

_**Beta Notes:**__There still was a handful that I had to stamp on, but hopefully I did a less slapdash job this time than last time I beta-read a chapter. Blame that on being busy with academics, how shallow an excuse that is you'll have to decide for yourself._

_**Author's Notes Again: **__If there was ever a chapter for me to drop to my knees and beg for reviews like the sad man I am, it would be this one. I want to know what people thought of this chapter with a very different tone and pace. If it's something you liked and would like to see again, tell me. If you thought it was boring, tell me as well._


	25. Echoes in the Forest

**MUGI-CHAN: CHOOSER OF THE SLAIN**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE**

**ECHOES IN THE FOREST**

"_She filled our pints with that devil's beverage  
>And served another round with an hideous grin<br>The world was spinning in a new light I saw everything  
>and everyone was singing this song<em>

_With nature, trolls and the spirits of the forest  
>We are one; let our singing rise up into the stars<br>The witch's magic drum was still beating hard  
>When a goblin brought me a new pint and together we roared!<em>"

-_One More Magic Potion_ by _Ensiferum_

My mind was a haze; I was lying down on my side in a field of soft and long grass. This field was filled with red and white flowers that seemed vaguely familiar; it was a recurring landscape in my dreams, a place of happiness and comfort. The air was warm, and the sun was shining on my bare body. I couldn't remember the last time I felt the warmth of that sun. Beside me was Mio, as naked as I was with skin full of color and life. One of her arms was under me, and the other was over my chest. Her head rested in the cradle of my arm and shoulder. Our legs rested against one another's, and I felt myself enjoying every inch of skin of hers that I touched with mine.

I lowered my head and kissed her forehead. It felt real, but there was a dreamy quality to it. My right hand gently cupped the swell of her breast, like it was acting on her own. It was just as soft and firm as I had remembered it being. I gave it a light and careful squeeze, wanting to see her cheeks flush red and hear her give a cute little gasp like she always did when I touched her. Her face was instead pensive and neutral, almost like a doll's. I suddenly didn't feel like touching her like that anymore. My right hand moved to her side, and rested there.

My touch and caress of her body was to express my love physically. If she ignored that, didn't react, or didn't want that sort of affection, I stopped instantly. I always believed it was her shyness that made her reject my advances in the few instances where that had happened. Here, I wasn't sure what was wrong with her. She just didn't seem to care at all, which was out of character for her.

"Mio, I'm so glad you're here." I said, trying to provoke some sort of tender reaction out of her... I knew I was in a dream, or something similar. Despite this, I felt comfortable trying to deceive myself into thinking it was real.

"I am too, Mugi." She replied. Her voice had an edge of caring to it, but was still firm. It was the Mio I remembered. "Why were you so afraid though?"

"Afraid of what?" I asked. There were oh-so many things I was afraid of.

"Afraid of letting me go." Mio answered. "You're so young, and you're already closing up your heart to those who want to share theirs with yours. What if I don't ever come back? Would you really live your whole life alone clinging to fading memories? I don't want that, Mugi!"

"Mio…" I wasn't sure what to say. I saw tears in her eyes, and her words stung me. "I'm not going to let you go. I'm going to find a way to get you back."

"But what if that doesn't work? Why are you so afraid of her? She loves you so much and you're considering abandoning her!"

Now she was _angry_ at me. We remained in the same position, both somehow frozen there, and I suddenly wished _not_ to be there. This was not the Mio I wanted to see. Weakly, I replied, "W-What are you talking about? I love Mio, and I would never abandon a friend, you know that!"

"Liar." She retorted. "You're too busy wallowing in self-pity and swooning over the blood on your hands to realize what you're about to throw away."

"You mean…" It hit me. She was talking about Azusa. "Do you really think I'm letting go of her?"

"Wasn't the whole reason for you leaving to say goodbye to her?" Mio pointed out. "She doesn't have to be your lover and… my replacement… but I know you need her as much as she needs you. Neither of you can handle Midgard alone."

"Mio." I said her name and instantly sprang from the world of dreams back into the realm of the living. What had woken me up was the feeling of something large gently scratching against me. It was startled for a moment, but realized it was just Pedon waking me up with her paw. Varangian wolf paws were different than normal wolf paws. They were wider and broader, reminding me a bit of the paws of snow leopards back in my world.

"Oh, Pedon… you startled me." I exhaled, placing a hand over my rapidly beating heart. I tried to remember just where I was. I was warm, which was an anomaly since I had all but forgotten what warm was in Midgard. Below me was soft grass and moss, and I was naked, again. Two thoughts in my head were trying to battle for my attention. One was trying to remind of the dream I had just woken up out of. The dream where I was lying next to Mio, and she was confronting me about my inner fears and guilt. The other thought was about how I had nearly fallen asleep and never woken up because I hadn't been paying attention.

It was one of those mornings, it seemed.

My stomach grumbled loudly, and I then realized how hungry I was. It looked like the sun had just begun to rise above the clouds, which meant I had not eaten anything in… forty hours.

_Well, it's no wonder I became so exhausted during that battle yesterday. I didn't eat breakfast or anything at all._

"What about you, Pedon?" I asked, blinking the rest of sleep from my weary eyes. "Are you hungry?"

The great gray wolf replied by whimpering and burying her nose under her paws. I was surprised how easily I was finding this monstrous animal adorable. I leaned forward and gently patted her head. "There, there, I'm sure you could find us something to eat here in this forest. I would help you, but I'm afraid I'm no good at hunting. Especially with a sword."

I wasn't even sure if I could build a fire on my own. If push came to shove I decided I could use my wand and make one great big fire to cook with. I was hungry enough to ignore the problems with that plan.

Pedon whined some more, and I couldn't help but wonder just how Varangian wolf tasted.

"What's wrong? Do you miss Suden?" I asked tenderly.

She replied by turning so that her haunch was facing me. There were four arrows embedded into her hide. I sucked air through my teeth and realized that was what had been bothering her. Part of me felt guilty for not noticing this the day before. I hoped these arrows weren't like the ones made by Native America that just caused more damage when pulled out.

"Hold on, I'll get these out." I told the wolf, and raised my arm to grab at the shaft of the first one. Raising my arm was extremely difficult for some reason, like there was no energy in my body. That didn't seem right, because I was generally a pretty energetic morning person. I knew it was because I hadn't eaten anything in so long. The two of us needed to get out of those woods to find something to eat before I starved to death.

_Shut up, me. There's plenty of water around here, so that means I could probably go about a week and a half without food. I don't think I'm going to be out in the wilderness that long. In fact, I'd be surprised if I were still out here by the end of the day. I'm trying really hard to be an optimist, but it gets really hard when you watched a dozen people die around you. _

I took a deep breath and did my best to simply forget the day before. I had a strong force of will, and I knew I could eventually repress those memories given a bit of time. I couldn't even remember anything bad ever happening to me growing up for this very reason. This was different though, this wasn't like being yelled at or being punished by my father because I did something stupid or forgetful. I could forget things like that. But mages raining death with magic? The charnel hound? The demons and monsters I had seen? Warriors torn apart? The horrible fu-, _very bad_, spider… If drinking bleach would erase my memories of these things, I would have gladly done shots of it with orange juice.

I grabbed the first arrow and gave a slight tug at it to see how deep the arrow was stuck. Pedon whined, but it didn't seem to be that far in. Her hide was thick, and this wasn't quite like the arrows of an English longbow which could punch through steel armor. With a quick yank I pulled it, provoking a sharp yelp from the wolf. She shuddered noticeably, but didn't flinch away. I tossed the arrow aside and winced as fresh blood trickled down from the wound.

_Wow, she's calmer than I was when mother had to pull a splinter out of my foot with tweezers. I wonder how many people in my world would kill to have a dog this smart. Pedon doesn't seem like the type to chew on my shoes, eat garbage, and then vomit the garbage all over my bed. There are not a lot of other canines you can say the same about._

I sighed as I pulled another arrow out, and then a third.

"Pathetic, naked girl pulling arrows out of a wolf." I said to myself, and looked up to the perpetually gray sky. It was the same color as Pedon's fur. "Where do I go now? Loki said _Nifelheim_, but what if Azusa-chan doesn't know how to get there? He also said him and I were alike, that we're both neutral powers. He's wrong though, I'm not a power at all; I'm just a wanderer. It was easier, Pedon, back when I didn't really have control of my destiny. People used to just shepherd me along to one unspeakable danger to the next, and I would return home to pretty women and tea. I guess I need to do a little growing up and take charge of my fate."

I sighed and pulled the last arrow out. It tossed it aside and laid down on my back. My mind returned to the things Mugitsu had said that night we last spoke.

"She said my fate isn't written or decided. So what does that mean, Pedon? Is it up to me to decide how my story goes? If that's the case…" A sudden and ridiculous thought entered my head just then. "…maybe since I have no written fate here, then my death hasn't been decided or something. That means I'm invincible. If that's true, it would explain how I keep miraculously avoiding certain death over and over again."

Pedon looked at me like I was crazy.

I exhaled through my nose and sat back up. "Yeah, you're right. That's a stupid idea." My eyes glared down at the wound on my side and I flinched at how mangled it looked. Even after bathing, there was still dried blood smeared around the area under my arm. The cut went from just before my shoulder blade to the edge of my left breast. It was hard to look at and I cringed at the thought of Mio or Azusa having to see this ugly scar on me.

Getting sick sitting around the tree that had tried to charm me into sleeping forever; I stood up and stretched the kinks out of joints. I felt a sense of satisfaction at my elbows and knees popping, and went to put my clothes on. My tights were torn to ribbons and weren't useful as anything other than a bandana. I resigned to my tunic and boots, and was glad that the hem of my shirt went midway down my thighs. I only looked fifty to sixty percent indecent this way instead of ninety to ninety-six percent.

Have a percentage based indecency scale was one of those things I used to cope with stress.

All dressed I went to pick up Talvimiekka so we could-

"Strange." I said to myself as I looked at the ground where I had left my sword. "I could have sworn I left her right here…"

It wasn't there. I looked around the ground around me, feeling panic begin to rise in my chest. I _can-not-lose-this-sword_. I tried to keep calm and scrambled around the area I had slept in to find it. Pedon eyed me curiously as I began to lose my patience more and more. I wasn't like the sword could have just walked away on its own. Maybe Sword-chan could have, but Talvimiekka was not a magic sentient sword. Or at least I didn't think she was.

I growled through my teeth and stomped my foot down on the ground as I shouted, "_Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!_"

I wanted to scream even more, but resigned to gritting my teeth and taking deep breaths. This was absolutely typical. I was ready to ride out of here, find Azusa again, and have a great big meal. Instead I had my sword stolen in my sleep. Not just that but my ring and wand too it seemed. So instead of a nice time with a cute girl and good food, I got to play around in the forest for however long trying to recover this priceless artifact I had nearly been defiled by a spider to get.

This was just one of those days.

"Did you happen to see this thief?" I asked Pedon. I was obviously being rhetorical, since the dumb animal-

She barked happily and hopped once on her front paws. Her tail wagged frantically and she ran a circle before barking again, as if to tell me something.

"Wait… you don't mean…" I stared in disbelief.

Pedon barked once more.

"You saw who took my things? Why didn't you, well, eat them then?" I asked the obvious question.

The wolf rolled over on her back like she was playing dead. All I could do was give a helpless sigh. Pedon was reminding me more and more of Pickles the Cat, only with less murder and could be ridden. I smiled and went to rub her tummy.

_I guess in the end I've always been more of a dog person. I'm starting to see how having my very own giant wolf could come in handy. Too bad I can't take her back home with me. Hmm, I wonder if it's wrong of me to claim this animal as my own so quickly after her master met an unpleasant end. Well, if Pedon doesn't mind, then I don't see the problem. _

"Aww, we're going to get along just fine, aren't we?" I cooed towards _my_ new wolf. She looked at me with strangely knowing eyes and rolled back onto her feet. I patted her head and scratched behind her ear. "I'm sorry about what happened to your old master. I promise to take quite good care of you though. But first, can you take me to where my things are?"

She lowered herself so I could hop atop her back. I grabbed handfuls of fur around her shoulder, and then realized that maybe the people or things who took my sword could have been dangerous.

_If it is something dangerous, I'll just leave and go get my friends to help me. Ricchan's flaming arrows and Yui's grass-cutting sword can deal with any troublemakers. Also, I need Azusa-chan for… moral support, heheheheh…_

The forest here was different than other places in Midgard. It was serene and seemingly alive. Most other places were ripe with decay and death, but warmth and life somehow thrived here. Was it some kind of holy magic? Or was this place somehow spared the horrors of this perpetual winter? Whatever the case, I happily rode to wherever Pedon was taking me. I marveled at all the colors: The greens of the moss and needles, the browns and oranges of the earth, the glowing yellow lights that hovered lazily above the ground and wandered to and fro. They were gorgeous, but I had no idea what they were. Part of me had to wonder what in that forest was deceiving and what was not. I had avoided that tree, but that didn't mean I was free from danger.

Pedon moved quickly, just like the day before. Now that I was away from that tree, and without my ring, I was suddenly aware of how awfully cold it was. Despite the greenery, this place had to be even colder than how I remembered Sakuragyfli. Without pants, it was like I was riding the through the ninth circle of Hell. I clung to the wolf for warmth, and shivered despite my best efforts not to. The sooner I found that ring again, the better.

Around me, the sounds of those musical sprites sent a chill down my spine. I felt their presence, and was given knowledge of the music just by acknowledging it. It was the first song in some time I had bothered to pay attention. The roaring sound of death metal in the heat of battle was mostly ignored by me. This time it was the song _Matkan Lopussa_ by _Moonsorrow. _It was a slow and melancholic sounding piece - something that would fit the end of a journey or the like.

It may have been eerie, but I was thankful for the gift of music that wasn't metal for once. It helped keep my mind off the cold.

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" I asked the wolf as the forest around us became thicker and thicker. She didn't reply in any discernible way, and just kept riding. I was beginning to feel more and more naked without my sword. Back on the way here, I had hacked through zombie trolls with the greatest of ease, and there were also my multiple victories the day before. I was not the most proficient warrior to walk Midgard, but I could certainly defend myself.

The forest was becoming darker, with the light of sky being blocked out as trees grew closer together. I hoped more and more Pedon knew what she was doing. I doubted I could find my way back out of this place alone. Movement caught my eye and I saw shadowy figures dart behind trees. I flinched in surprise and suddenly wanted nothing more than to be back in Sakuragyfli with Azusa. I had only got a glimpse of those shadow creatures, but they had looked like miniature trolls. Goblins perhaps? I had no idea.

I saw more of them, this time in plain view. They were very much like trolls, but only half my height instead of nearly double. The little green creatures scrambled away from Pedon and me. They were dressed better than trolls, and weren't carrying weapons. Honestly, they looked a little friendly just shy.

_What do they think when they see me? Am I frightening to them? Or is it just Pedon that makes them run away? What would I think if I saw a beautiful girl and wolf ride by? _

Pedon took me to a forest clearing, in a field of grass that had been crudely cut. In the center of the field was a small log cabin, like a farmhouse. There was a cobblestone path leading from it to where we had just come from. It was strange; there was certainly no path in the forest. I wondered how anyone was expected to find their way here. The cobblestone was overgrown with sickly looking weeds; I doubted anyone even lived in this little home.

I slid off Pedon and flinched at the pain that flared in my left leg as I landed. I had almost forgotten that I had taken a good hit to the leg as well. I limped towards the house, putting weight on my good leg. I looked back to Pedon and whispered, "I'll go and ask for my things back. If they say no then you can, well, eat them I guess."

Pedon yipped happily and ran around in place for a moment. I smiled at her enthusiasm and nodded. "Okay, glad you've got my back here. Cover me, alright?"

I was too exhausted, aching, and hungry to think of a better plan. If this was something Pedon couldn't just scare into submission or rip apart if need be, I would just have to hop on Pedon and run on out of there. This wolf was becoming more and more handy. I hoped that when this was over, I would have some time to properly bond with this creature.

As I walked down the path, I felt as if all the eyes in the forest were on me. It felt too alive somehow, like even the trees were whispering about me. I made it to the front door of the lone home and knocked as loud as I could. I was beyond nervous, but tried my best to put on a brave visage. Inside I heard the sounds of faint laughter and music, like there was some sort of party going on. It was proper music with woodwind instruments and the like, instead of the blaring sounds of distorted guitar and blazing fast drums.

The door opened slightly, and there I saw the frail form of an old woman. Her matted and tangled hair was very dark but graying from age. I placed her somewhere in her fifties with her wrinkled face and frankly hideous visage covered with warts. She was dressed in a filthy looking robe that smelled faintly of unclean cats and maybe even their litter.

"Good afternoon dearie…" She cooed towards me. I was holding my breath without even realizing it. I quickly looked behind me and saw Pedon was gone for some reason. The woman's voice was like rusty nails, and when she spoke I could smell her rancid breath and see her yellow and rotting teeth.

_Ohh no… this looks bad._

"What's the matter?" She smiled warmly at me, almost making me wonder if she was just a nice little old lady living out in the forest. Even if that were true, every fiber of my being was screaming at me that this was wrong. "Wolf got your tongue?"

I exhaled nervously and forced what was probably the most sheepish smile I had ever given in my life. "I…uh, was w-wondering if y-you had seen a m-magical sword? I sort of, uh… lost it."

"A magical sword? Well, dearie, you should be more careful with your things." She smiled, still keeping the door half closed.

"W-Well, if you haven't seen it, I better get going." I lifted my foot to turn around and leave as fast as I could while making it look like I wasn't leaving as fast as I could.

"Dearie, you're bleeding!" The old woman exclaimed, pointing a withered finger with a long yellow nail at me.

"I'm not-" I looked down and saw a flower of blood soaking my tunic red around my body wound; it began throbbing with pain. My leg flared up with sharp pain as well, and I felt that wound bleeding too. I began to panic, wondering just what was happening. Was it that woman's fault? Or had both my wounds decided to open up again simultaneously? Had they been bleeding this whole time without me noticing? I didn't even know.

"Oh come on in, dearie. I have a special draught that can soothe your bleeding wounds." She smiled and made a 'come hither' motion with her finger. The door seemingly opened on its own. From within, the smell of fresh baked bread, mead, and slow-cooked meats pleasantly greeted my nose. My mouth watered and I felt very reluctant to turn down her offer. The inside of her home was much larger than it was on the outside. There was a great table, surrounded by wooden chairs. In the center of it, a feast had been prepared. Roast pig, the bread I had smelled, a variety of fruits and vegetables I hadn't tasted since my time in Japan - it all looked delicious.

A part of me was _screaming_ to just turn and run, "M-Maybe I could stay awhile..." but I was too hungry to pass this up. I stepped forward, clutching my bleeding wound. "Please excuse my intrusion… ah-"

"Louhi. My name is Louhi, Mugi." Louhi stepped aside for me to step inside.

_Did I tell her my name?_

Inside, I was able to fully take in everything the main room had to offer. It was a very Nordic looking building, like the ones I had seen in Varyag as opposed to Sakuragyfli. Past the table on the far side of the room was a great fire pit with a stuck pig being slow-roasted. Near it was a black iron cauldron, bubbling over with some strange and noxious concoction. Through all the wonderful smells I could smell whatever she was brewing. It was a weird scent, neither pleasant not rancid.

"You are my guest, so you may sit at the head of the table. Don't worry about bleeding on the furniture, for my servants shall take care to clean any mess you make. Sit tight and I'll have something for those injuries and just a moment."

She told me all of this and I slowly stepped across the room to the great throne-line chair at the head of the table. It was heavenly warm inside as well; I was enjoying it very much compared to being out in the cold. As I sat down, and winced at the pain I was feeling, Louhi added, "And of course… feel free to feast on whatever you fancy."

"Thank you very much!" I told her, and eyed all the food before me. I had no idea what to try first. Without really even thinking, I simply went for whatever was closest. Warm bread that cut easily with a knife, I helped myself to a large piece and soaked slathered in with butter mixed with cinnamon. When I took the first bite, I nearly cried from happiness from how good it tasted. It was delicious, maybe the best thing I had ever eaten. That or my state of hunger was making it that way. Whatever it was, I practically inhaled the bread and butter before starting a succulent looking peach.

Louhi set a wooden pint of that the stuff from the cauldron down before me. It bubbled and still had that weird smell to it. To me, it almost looked like boiling pea soup. She smiled and told me, "It's a little bitter, but it will melt your pain away and heal your ailments."

"Oh thank you, thank you!" I practically cheered and rose the pint up to inspect it more closely. That paranoid part of me was screaming that drinking this was perhaps the worst possible thing I could do in this situation, but it felt like my inhibitions were melting away. It was like the warmth and food around me were intoxicating. Holding my breath and trying to ignore the smell, I went to take a swig.

She was right, it was very bitter. It had a very earthy taste to it, like I was drinking ale made from the very essence of the forest around me. Despite the way it tasted, it went down surprisingly smooth. I had drunk the entire pint without even realizing I had done so. Louhi stepped away and I suddenly began to feel very strange. My wounds mended themselves in the blink of an eye, and I felt loads better. She had been true to her word; this beverage had done exactly what she said it would.

I blinked in surprise as I saw one of those green creatures I thought to be goblins take my pint away and bring it over to Louhi by the cauldron. I had no idea where the little creature had even come from. I blinked again, and there were more of them sitting further down the table helping themselves to the feast. The inside of her home felt like it was getting bigger, like the walls were expanding to give more floor space.

Even more of the creatures appeared, and a few of what looked to be full blown trolls. I sat there in amazement, but did not feel fear for some reason. In the newly given floor space, the trolls and goblins danced with one another. There was music too, those woodwind instruments supported by lovely sounding string instruments like harps and violas. I looked around to see a group of beautiful musicians in the corner of the room behind me. They looked like Valkyries, and were dressed little more than bits of silk tied around their waists. Beautiful women that had seemingly appeared from nowhere playing hauntingly beautiful music.

_What's even going on now? Am I dreaming?_

A dream was exactly what this felt like. I blinked rapidly and tried to see if I could wake up. No good, this was still reality. My heart rate accelerated and I could feel pounding in my chest like thunder booming in rapid succession. It was ringing in my ears like a drum, frightening me slightly. Looking around was difficult, like my head was moving much faster than my eyes were. The edges of my vision were blurry, and nothing would stay still. The walls, the floor, the table, all of these creatures. They were all swaying.

One of the goblins brought me another pint of that green stuff. It laughed and cheered, and I felt myself laughing along. I had no idea why I was laughing, and after a few seconds of laughing, I forgot that I had even been laughing and stopped and wondered what I was doing. I saw the green beverage there, and I forgotten where it had even come from. Without thinking, I took a swig and drank all of it.

My head was getting fuzzier and fuzzier now; I wanted everything to just stop moving and swaying so much. It felt like I and the rest of the world were spinning in place, and I was _not_ comfortable with it. I clung to the edge of the table and wanting nothing more for this horrible disorientation to pass.

_Oh god, where am I? I don't even remember. What are all these things around me? How did I even get here? Why do I feel so bad? Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop, make it stop, make it stop, make it stop…_

I repeated that mantra in my head over and over, and felt my hand shaking, and my breathing become more and more frantic. I was trying to patiently wait for this wave of personal hell to retract and leave me, but it was hard when every last thing felt wrong. Even the very makeup of my body felt wrong, like my hands were incorrectly connected to my arms. I stared down at my palms and felt sick as the edges of my skin seemed to sway before my eyes.

"Drink this, you'll feel better." I heard someone tell me. It was not the haggard and rusty voice of the witchlike woman whose home I struggled to remember I was in. Instead it was a calm and soothing voice, one so familiar yet hauntingly distant in my memories. I looked up and beside me was my raven-haired angel smiling and offering me a glass bottle of something. It was not that devil's drink that had changed the world around me. Mio motioned to sit with me, and I scooted aside to make room on my seat. It felt bigger somehow, and there was suddenly enough room for both of us there.

"Mio-chan…" I voiced her name in my daze and took the cold bottle from her hands. My mind and my body felt like two completely separate entities working on their own accord. I couldn't seem to direct my actions with thoughts, and was forced to watch myself act without thinking. I drank from that bottle, and was pleasantly surprised to find that this was cold cider and not more strange green bubbling stuff. It was sweet with a tang of spice, and absolutely refreshing. I set it down on the table before me and then focused my attention to the lovely lady at my side.

"Am… I dreaming again?" I asked her. After taking that drink, the world was beginning to slow down from its spinning, and the lines were staying still finally. I took another sip just to help speed the process of restoration along.

"Does it matter?" She cooed and nuzzled against me.

_Uh, actually, it kind of _does_ matter_, I thought, but put my arm around her. She felt more real here than she had in my dream earlier that day. I knew wasn't real though, and she was a product of some magic going on around me.

_And so what if she is? Why can't I just _enjoy_ something for once without anything going wrong? _

The music around us was enchanting. It was both upbeat and beautiful in melody. The musicianship was incredible as well. My trained ear was impressed by the harmonies and the constantly changing time signatures. Whoever wrote this piece knew a thing or two about song writing. It was inspiring, making me wish I had a set of ivory and ebony keys beneath my fingertips. Most of all, the music made me want to dance. I still felt a little disoriented, but whatever inhibitions I had about embarrassing myself had vanished with the cider.

I stood up and took Mio's hand and smiled to her. It was my best attempt at a seductive smile. "My dear, may I have this dance?"

"I would be honored." The illusionary Mio before me took my hand as I pulled before the beautiful women and their instruments. The forest folk stepped away to give us room but some still danced their enthusiastic and happy dances. There was an aura of peace and friendship around all of them, even the mighty trolls whose waists I only came up to. They were not like the vicious beasts of the mountains I had encountered before. These were closer to the spirits I remembered from fairy tales when I was a little girl.

With my fancier-than-average upbringing, I did know how to dance like a proper lady. It was a little difficult to pull off with my dizziness from everything I had drunk though. I placed one arm around her back, and held her hand with the other, lacing our fingers. It was not a fancy display, but instead the two of holding each other close and swaying back and forth.

"I'm not real..." She said to me. Our eyes met, and I saw tears in hers.

_I know that, _I thought to myself. _I know that, and I know what I'm doing right now is really unhealthy. I don't care though, I nearly died yesterday more than once and watched dozens and dozens of people get killed. For all I know this is going to mess me up for life. Let me enjoy the little things, even if they're just in my head, or from magic._

"I know you're not." I said to her, feeling my heart weigh heavy at the sight of her tears. "It's like you just said though… does it matter? Can I just enjoy this moment and sort out whether it was a bad idea later?"

"I won't take that from you." This Mio said in a quieter voice and rested her head on my shoulder. "I just want to make sure you know that I'm not your Mio. I'm nothing. You are dancing with no one right now. Everyone and everything here sees things differently. To the spirits around us, you may as well not even exist."

"I think I like it that way." I mused. "I wish you were real though. There are so many things that were never said or done. I'm not sure I really understand though, are you just a hallucination? You seem so real."

"I'm an echo." She told me. "An echo of the girl you loved and how you saw her. Nothing in Midgard can ever truly die. Some trace of it always remains. You should know - echoes tend to follow you."

"They do?"

"They do. The music from ages and worlds forgotten by nearly all is drawn to you more than others. There's the echo of a Norn that rings and resonates in your soul constantly. The louder something echoes, the more real it becomes. Me, I'm barely a whisper of the girl you loved. I wish I could be her for you, but I can't. No matter how much you dream and wish for me to be real, I'm still nothing. I guess you're right, I really am just a hallucination."

"I see…" I sighed, taking in her words and trying to understand them as best I could. What I held in my arms was the manifestation of a memory. I supposed that was better than nothing, but in a way it was disheartening. I tried not to think about it and continued slowly dancing with her. The moment wasn't entirely lost. The way I saw it, this was just a lucid dream.

As we danced I noticed one of the women in the room was not playing an instrument. She wore a blue silk kimono a lot like the one Mio had given me before I went to Lutvjarg. Besides the out-of-place dress style, what had caught my attention with her was how astonishingly she looked like my mother. I quickly shook my head and ignored her, continuing to dance. The music and the illusion in my arms couldn't get this strange woman out of my mind though. I kept seeing her blue eyes on me, and it was beginning to worry me. She was eying me watchfully.

_Wait…_

I hadn't even realized what was in her hands the whole time. It was something that looked so natural I hadn't even noticed it. It was _my_ sword, Talvimiekka.

"Ah, excuse me." I let go of the false simulacrum I was dancing with and strutted over to the woman with my sword. The music and festivities continued like nothing was happening; those playing their instruments regarded me in no way.

This woman was nearly my height, only a little taller. My breath was taken away by how similar she looked to my mother, but this woman's eyebrows were too thick to be her, and she was also much more muscular and fit while my mother was much curvier. I tried to say something to her, anything, but my words were caught in my throat. She kept staring at me, looking almost disappointed with something about me.

"Who… are you?" I managed to say.

"An echo." Her voice was tired and distant, like she was replying to someone else entirely. She held out Talvimiekka so that the pommel was facing me. I stood there stupidly for a moment before realizing she was offering the sword for me to take. I reached for it and staggered momentarily under its weight as it pulled my arm down. The woman's expression was much easier to understand now - it was disgusted.

I looked over my shadow and saw the illusion of Mio was gone. The room seemed darker somehow, and the music was becoming quieter and more distant by the second. It was like everything around us was disappearing, leaving me and the other girl alone. I wasn't comfortable with it at all.

_"Her magic potion is something incredible, letting you see beyond what lies in front of mortal eyes. What once existed only in your mind and soul stands before you." _She spoke without moving her lips, and it felt like she was talking inside my head. Her voice reminded me strongly of Mugitsu's.

"You're like the Mio I was just with then?" I deducted, trying hard to sound brave and not intimidated.

"_I don't know. I don't question my existence or what I am. Why do you have that sword? You don't deserve it."_

I bit my lower lip and averted my eyes from her. I was silent but I mentally challenged her words. She was wrong; I had fought for this sword and earned it.

_"Without that wolf, you would have never found it and it would have been lost for another eternity. It doesn't matter though. You are like a clumsy elk being hunted by cunning and capable wolves. They're coming for you right now. The bruise you left on their ego was more painful than the bruise you left on their numbers. Do you think you can survive a second round? You've had food and rest, and your wounds are healed. Show me how much you really deserve to wield that weapon. You made _her_ shed blood for the first time in decades, so maybe you aren't completely hopeless."_

Dread and anxiety washed through me as the realization of what she was talking about surfaced. Those mercenaries from the day before were out for my blood. I took a deep breath and gave her a quick nod to show that I understood.

_"Before you leave, I have one question for you. What drives your sword? Is it compassion and the desire to protect those you love and yourself if the need arises?"_

"Of course!" I answered immediately. "I wouldn't ever fight if I didn't have to. I hate it more than anything."

_"Then wield your sword with that hate. I let my love for someone very close to me drive my soul, and because of it I am no more than an echo, a ghost, a shadow of someone long past."_

A sharp gasp escaped my lips and I felt myself reeling with realization. Around me, the world was rapidly changing to normal again. Gone were the music, the musicians, and the spirits and trolls. I nearly fell over from how sudden it was. I was now in the empty common room of an old woman's house once again.

Was this truly reality once more? The table that had once held food and drink was barren now, and all the wonderful smells were replaced by that noxious green drink and the smell of musty wood. I held up my sword to better look at, like I was trying to convince myself it was real. I turned and saw Louhi standing in the shadows of the room in the corner. I shot a smile towards her. Despite the panic I had felt from her potion, I felt like all and all this had been a pleasant experience. I had food, my wounds were healed, I had a moment with a girl from my memories and…

_That woman… that was Mugitsu's sister. I don't know exactly what she was, or why I was able to see and talk to her, but I understand at least who she was. I don't care what she says though, I'll never let hate drive my weapon. _

"Where did you find this?" I asked Louhi, and held up Talvimiekka horizontally.

She smiled her hideous grin and replied in that same grating, yet warm tone, "I found your wolfish friend sniffing around my home and I talked to her. She told me of your injuries, so she and I devised a plan to bring you here so that your wounds may be tended to with my magic concoction."

"You… talked to Pedon? " I asked, completely bewildered.

"Of course. I find wolves to be the most talkative out of the forest folk. Her heart was set on bringing you here with a plan. She's a clever girl, and I would be very thankful to count her among your friends were I you. Poor thing came all the way here with arrows in her side. I offered to get rid of those pesky things for her, but she felt more comfortable if you were the one to do it."

"She wanted me to do it instead of you? I suppose the bond between her may be stronger than I thought, even if we've only been together for a short time. Already, I cherish her dearly." I assured the witch. "Also, thank you very much for all of this. It may have been a pinch unorthodox, but I certainly appreciate it. That drink of yours… it's…"

"Really something." She finished for me. "I have talked to people who drank it who claim it let them speak with spirits of the dead even. It's different for everyone, but the effect is always the same: you're no longer bleeding."

"Which is all that matters." I nodded. The mention of me bleeding made me think back to when I first knocked on the door and my side had begun bleeding for seemingly no reason. I wondered what had caused that. My guess was that it was a worse injury than I thought, or me moving around caused the coagulated blood and scabbing to break, restarting the bleeding.

We stood there in silence for a moment before I glanced towards the door. "I suppose I should be leaving. Once again, thanks for all your help."

"It was no problem at all." She assured me with her gross, but kind smile. "If you're ever in need of help again, and happen to be in this neck of the woods, you are welcome here, and… Oh!"

She suddenly looked surprised.

"Hmm, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Someone's looking for you." Louhi answered. "I hear the trees speaking. A woman, tall, but not tall like a Varangian. There's a dark aura around her… I don't sense good things."

"Probably a mercenary." I gritted my teeth, unable to think of any exceptionally tall women I knew. "I'm sorry Louhi, but I'm afraid I must take my leave. Please, take care."

"I could say the same to you."

I chuckled, "I do my best."

I extended by goodbye with a wave and exited through the door. I was jogging without even realizing it, desperate to quickly get out of these woods. Outside, it had snowed, and the freezing winds blew hard against my bare legs.

_Oh no, I don't have my ring. No time to waste though, I'll get another one assuming Ricchan wasn't just messing with me when she said there were plenty of these things._

The snow was only to my ankle, and kept politely out of my boots. I rant some ten meters down the barely visible cobblestone path from Louhi's home before I stopped. Feeling a rush from adrenaline I took a deep breath and realized I had no idea where Pedon was.

An idea popped into my mind, a silly and rather childish one. I thought, _How do wolves talk to one another? By howling of course!_ I laughed to myself, and couldn't believe I was actually considering howling like a wolf at the sky to get the attention of Pedon, wherever she was. It was foolish because for all I knew, she was well out of earshot of me, and all I would be doing is attracting things that I probably didn't want near me. As silly as it was, howling at the sky sounded like a much more practical idea than just screaming, _"Pedon! Pedon! Pedon!" _over and over again.

I ran a bit further away from the house, putting myself between it and the forest around me. It was some twenty meters to either. I stopped and took another deep breath before howling out my best impression of a wolf calling out sorrowfully to the moon. My throat burned in protest at the volume of my wolfish cry, but I fought past it. My cry only lasted a few seconds and when I was finished, I whispered a snatch of song, "…Werewolves of London…"

In the distance, in a direction I could not place, I heard the sound of wolf howling. Before I could revel in my success, I heard another how… then several more together in a different direction.

_And now I'm going to be eaten by wolves if Pedon doesn't show up. Fantastic. I could have thought this over a bit better. Now what to do? If I want Pedon to find me, I should stay put, but at the same time, that seems really unsafe. Stupid wolf, why can't you just stay put without wandering off?_

I sighed and spun Talvimiekka in my hands several times. It looked cool, but nobody was around to see it. I waited a few minutes, nervously scanning the edges of the forest all around me for something to appear. I didn't have to wait long for something to exit the cover of the trees and step into the snow. It was not quite who I had expected.

It was a tall woman, like Louhi had predicted. She wore a worn and tattered looking leather duster. Her hair was short, in a style close to Yui's, but her hair was thinner. Beyond that, it was a mint green color. In her hand was a sheathed katana with the strap to wear the sheath dangling loosely below it, just touching the snow. She was moving quickly towards me, her face seemingly expressionless.

"Iwasaki-san!" I called out, and ran towards her. This was a welcome sight. Minami Iwasaki, the woman I had faced the Charnel Hound with Sanya month ago. She was not someone had expected to see, but we had parted on good terms. I didn't think it was foolish to consider her a friend.

She looked surprised to see me. We stopped before each other and she eyed me curiously before speaking in that same monotone voice I remembered. "You're… the one that band of mercenaries are hunting for?"

I nodded a bit nervously and replied, "Yes, believe or not. I helped defend Tartungar's Grave and barely made it out alive. I… _may_ have done a rather good job helping the militia, which is why they're mad at me."

"Hmm. I see." Her blue eyes focused on my sword. "They're offering your sword as a reward to whoever finds you and brings you back. Dead or alive."

"They'll have a hard time doing that." I said, boldly. "At any minute my wolf is going to come and take me somewhere safe. Do you need a ride anywhere?"

I was wondering why she was even here in the first place.

"No." Minami replied coldly, and rested her hand on the hilt of her blade. "I need that sword though. Who knows how much it would sell for? What I do know is that someone very close to me is ill, and I need that money to help her."

"You're… you're…" I took a step back and raised my sword in a defensive stance. "You're not having this sword, Iwasaki-san. I went through too much to get this thing."

She drew a few inches of her sword and stared me down. "Killing you would be doing you a favor with what these mercenaries have planned. Give the sword and run, I'll tell them I never saw you."

"So you're working with them?" I growled through my teeth.

_It would be really great if you could show up right about now Pedon…_

"I need that sword, Tsumugi. It's an alliance of convenience." Minami drew a few more inches of her katana, causing me to back up a step. "I don't want to kill you. Just give me the sword."

"No." I stated boldly. "No and I'm not fighting you either. Go away, Iwasaki-san…d-don't… don't make me hurt you!"

"I don't think that's something I need to worry about." She replied rather coldly and drew the rest of her sword with her left hand. "It's a shame this has to happen, Tsumugi. You seemed like a good girl, just woefully naïve and oblivious to the reality of Midgard. Well, here it is, prepare yourself."

"Don't do this, Iwasaki-san."

"The mercenaries are already on their way. I'd give them several minutes to arrive, but don't worry, that's all I need."

"You're making a big mistake." I felt like my threat was only half hollow. It didn't matter, she wasn't listening. Greed had polluted her and now were we both paying the price. I wasn't sure whether or not to fight or flight. She looked like she could run faster than me. I also had no idea how skilled she was compared to me.

I didn't have time to think about it as she threw herself at me, sword thirsting for my blood.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**Author's notes/shit people just skim over:**__ So why did it take me a month to write this chapter? Mostly due to real life blocking me from writing. I mean shit, I'm writing this in the parking lot of a fucking McDonalds. I have had been in better situations in my life. Another issue was how many revisions my ideas for this chapter went through. The only thing I knew for sure was that I had to base it around that Ensiferum song I quoted, just fucking had to. _

_First, I wanted Mugi to have a companion with her, or several others. I had originally had a tsundere Sentinel that would be this young and flustered samurai girl. I scrapped that because I didn't like adding more OCs. Then I wanted to use Yui and Ritsu, but adding them felt way too contrived. I had some ideas inspired by Brutal Legend for companions, but I won't even mention that. In the end, I went with establishing an initial bond with Pedon and Mugi._

_Next I had a hard time deciding whether or not Louhi should have been evil in this. I know in Kalevala she was a villain figure after the Sampo, but I felt like this was a reference and not a crossover here. I decided to go with her being helpful since it was so hard to write a believable escape for Mugi from her clutches. It would have involved her fighting her way out with Minami, but that led to even more issues._

_ It involved Minami busting Mugi out from being held captive, but with them escaping, there were too many plot holes that arose. I kept running into situations where I wondered, "Well doesn't Louhi just do this, or why doesn't Mugi do this?" and that would require more rewriting… In the end, I went with making Minami the villain here. _

_I don't know if the behind-the-scenes interests anyone, but I just felt like sharing. As always, I hope people liked this. I really am trying to break monotony with my chapters by making each one very different. This story arc with Mugi being off alone is taking longer than I thought, but following the advice of my editor, ProfessorRude, chapter 26 may be considerably shorter._


End file.
